Tile Panel
ca. 1720-1730 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
In the 17th and 18th centuries, numerous monumental tiling schemes were executed for convents, churches and palaces in Portugal. Typically painted in blue, these would cover huge areas of church walls as well as their barrel-vaulted ceilings. In palaces and grand houses tilework formed a continuous dado around grand rooms, along corridors and up staircases. This panel was part of such a scheme in the Music Room of the Quinta Formosa in Lisbon. Its exuberant decoration is typical, with figurative scenes set within a framework of trompe l'oeil pilasters, caryatids and other architectural ornament.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Tin-glaze earthenware, painted |
| Brief description | Tile panel (120 tiles), painted, tin-glazed earthenware, probably Lisbon, ca. 1720-30 |
| Dimensions |
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| Gallery label | Tile panel with musicians and dancers
About 1720–30
Portuguese tile factories specialised in boldly painted pictorial panels like this. They benefited from an embargo on imported Dutch tiles. Tiling was more suited to Portugal’s warm climate than the textile wall hangings traditionally used in wealthy homes elsewhere in Europe. This panel is from the music room of a country house just outside Lisbon.
Portugal (probably Lisbon)
Tin-glazed earthenware painted in blue
From the music room of the Quinta Formosa, Lisbon
(09/12/2015) |
| Object history | Purchased as a group, with C.48-53-1973, from Solar-Albuquerque & Sousa, Rua D. Pedro V 70, 1250-094 LISBOA ( São José ). According to the vendor they came from the 'Music Room of the Quinta Formosa, Lisbon'. |
| Summary | In the 17th and 18th centuries, numerous monumental tiling schemes were executed for convents, churches and palaces in Portugal. Typically painted in blue, these would cover huge areas of church walls as well as their barrel-vaulted ceilings. In palaces and grand houses tilework formed a continuous dado around grand rooms, along corridors and up staircases. This panel was part of such a scheme in the Music Room of the Quinta Formosa in Lisbon. Its exuberant decoration is typical, with figurative scenes set within a framework of trompe l'oeil pilasters, caryatids and other architectural ornament. |
| Bibliographic reference | Graves, Alun. Tiles and Tilework of Europe. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 2002, fig. 4.23, p90-91. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | C.48-1973 |
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| Record created | March 3, 2004 |
| Record URL |
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