Porcelain exhibition opens Thursday in Sintra

The exhibition “Portuguese Porcelain: The Harmony of Contraries”, opening on Thursday in Sintra, proposes “an original approach to the use of old and used earthenware and porcelain”, combining pieces from now-defunct Portuguese factories, such as those in Massarelos and Sacavém.

The exhibition, which will be at MU.SA — Museu das Artes de Sintra, open to the public from July 25 to September 28, is organized by the Ricardo do Espírito Santo Silva Foundation (FRESS) and presents itself as a “ tribute to the old Portuguese ceramic and porcelain factories of the 18th and 19th centuries ”, most of which are now extinct.

In this way, we remember “the work and art of the ancient potters of Viana do Castelo, Caldas da Rainha, Alcobaça, Ílhavo, Águeda, Coimbra, the Porto area, Sacavém and Lisbon, whose testimonies [cannot be] forgotten”, according to the presentation of the exhibition.

“The exhibition proposes an aesthetic recontextualization of these pieces with the aim of revealing their artistic, technical and heritage value, while also opening up space for dialogue between tradition and innovation,” adds the FRESS text.

“These are, above all, pieces that pay homage to the craftsmen who created them, in a fair appreciation of know-how and collective memory, that challenge the visitor's gaze with unexpected and provocative proposals, or even that evoke the past with delicacy and melancholy — they are dreams of a time once lived, but now revisited under the attentive and sensitive gaze of contemporary times.”

The coordination and curation is by Gabriela Canavilhas, president of FRESS, and the artistic direction is by José Nuno Silva Figueiredo, coordinator of New Projects at the Foundation.

The exhibition consists of compositions that combine ceramics and porcelain from different origins , with ornaments and technical structures created by FRESS artisans, which can be made of leather, paper, bronze, gold, fine woods, lacquered paint, carved wood, elaborate trimmings, wrought iron, creating new contexts and situations, almost always unexpected.

“Everything served to transform the ceramics into new, reinvented 'stories',” Gabriela Canavilhas told the Lusa news agency.

The period pieces, from the 17th to 20th centuries, originate from factories such as Carvalhinho and Massarelos, in Porto, Raul da Bernarda and Pereiras Valado, in Alcobaça, Elias & Paiva Lda (ELPA), in Caldas da Rainha, Vista ALegre, in Aveiro, and Sacavém, in Lisbon, among others.

The “main artist” involved in the project is Vanessa Diniz, who took part in the FRESS workshops in 2021, and has training in Conservation and Restoration from the Professional School for the Recovery of Built Heritage in Sintra, and Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts, with specializations in Escaiola and Tadelakt, in Spain.

Vanessa Diniz participated in interventions at the Queluz Palace, the Church of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Almada, the Arab Hall of the Palácio da Bolsa, in Porto, the Maiorca Palace, in Figueira da Foz, the Chapter House and Crypt of the Convent of Jesus and the Livramento Market, in Setúbal, and the Fort of S. Julião da Barra, in Oeiras, among others.

The chosen title, “Harmony of Opposites”, evokes the concept of the philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus, who lived in Greece (c.500-450 BC), and who “believed that the essence of reality lies in opposites that coexist in tension and dynamic balance”, explained Canavilhas.

"It is in the interaction of opposites that the order of the universe is based. Thus, contrasting materials gain a new interpretation, allowing us to reconnect with Umberto Eco [1932-2016] and his concept of recreating a work of art through the process of interpretation," he added.

Some pieces "have an institutional character, directly paying homage to the artisans who created them, others adopt a more irreverent and playful language, challenging the visitor's gaze with unexpected and provocative proposals, and there are also pieces that evoke the past with delicacy and melancholy," concluded Gabriela Canavilhas.