LAUNCH OF THE BOOK
Catalan Pottery from the Mascort collection
by Josep Antoni Cerdà
24.10.2012 - 7pm

NEW ACQUISITION, May 2012
Tankard, 1897
Tin earthenware made at the Marian Burguès pottery Fayans Català (Sabadell)
Decorated in blue with the Quatre Gats Magazine logo, probably designed by Ramon Casas.

The Institute of Culture from the Barcelona City Council has acquired for the Museum of Ceramics a tankard made for the ancient public house Quatre Gats in Barcelona. This place, which developed an important cultural life, opened in 1897, was managed by Pere Romeu and haunted by artists like Ramon Casas, Santiago Rusiñol, Julio Vallmitjana and Picasso.

Launching of the book
Wednesday 19, 7 pm
LA LOZA DORADA de la colección Mascort
by the author, Josep A. Cerdà and in presence of Ramón Mascort, president of the Fundació Mascort in Torroella de Montgrí.

Donation Daphne with bluebirds, 2010

The Canadian artists Carol & Richard Selfridge (1948 and 1943) who, since 1974 onward have been working together in their Edmonton studio (Alberta, Canada), have donated one of their maiolica pieces to the Museum of Ceramics.  Their work has been exhibited in museums and art galleries in USA, Canada, Japan, China and Australia and, many of them are in important public and private collections.  Carol and Richard ar also owners of a large collection of contemporary ceramics.

MUSEUM'S NIGHT

On May 14, under the slogan Museum, Memory, Music,  the Museum of Ceramics received more than three-hundred evening visitors who had the opportunity of enjoying themselves with a poems reading by Poemusa-1 and with a concert by the Quartet Amora Ensemble and by the Trio Gipsy Jazz Platan Manush

DONATION

In May 2011, the Museum of Ceramics has received the donation of an Italian plate from a private collection in Barcelona.  The work, made in the kilns of Deruta or Montelupo during the first half of XVIII century, measures 45,5 cm of diameter and its conservation is perfect.  The dish will enrich the Museum collections of foreigner tin-earthenware and at the same time, shows the influences of the Italian productions in the Spanish ceramics.

Restoration of a Chinese Porcelain Jar

To coincide with the publication of the book Porcelana china para España (Chinese Porcelain for Spain) by Jorge Welsh Books, written by Rocío Díaz after ten years of research, the Barcelona Museum of Ceramics has restored one of the most important pieces in its collection. This Chinese porcelain jar, more than one metre tall, is from the famille rose series and dates from between 1735 and 1740. The fact that it is the only one of its kind in Europe (there are two identical jars in a private collection in Mexico City) makes it especially interesting. The jar was acquired in the United Kingdom in 1962, at which time about 8% of the piece exhibited plaster filled gaps and a restoration with twenty-five fragments of varying sizes which had been glued and fixed with metal staples.

Jar with lid. China. Quing Dynasty. Yongzheng/Qianlong Rule. Ca 1735-1740 Porcelain floral artwork characteristic of the famille rose series with gold Coat of Arms of Felipe V under Royal Crown, with Order of the Golden Fleece Height: 106 cms. Max. diameter: 50 cms. Acquired in London from Javier de Salas, 1962 Collection of the Barcelona Museum of Ceramics

The restorer, Raquel Nériz is a Fine Arts graduate from Barcelona University. After the jar had been chemically cleaned inside and out, she decided that the metal staples that hold the jar together from the inside should remain in place as they had not corroded over time. The type of metal staples used in the United Kingdom are very different to the typical iron clips that were commonly used in Spain and which rust so easily that it is usually necessary to remove them from their place.

Interior of the jar

In the second phase of the restorer’s work, an old pictorial ‘touch-up’ which had aged badly and which covered a large part of the original decoration was removed. The joints were then filled to restore the jar’s volume and, after polishing and hardening, the pictorial decoration of the surface was applied using airbrush and paintbrush with diluted Maimeri colours. The knob of the lid had become unglued and so was re-attached using epoxy resin.

Raquel Nériz retouching the pictorial elements

Apothecary jar. Barcelona, 18th century

Donation of a Catalan Apothecary Jar

During the month of October, the Lincoln family gave a XVIIIth century Catalan apothecary jar to the Museum of Ceramics.
Emilio Lincoln (1920-1984) had collected hundreds of ceramics objects in his property "Clos de Mata". His four children wanted to keep alive their father memory, giving one of their most emblematic works to the Museum in Barcelona.

Throughout 2008, and thanks to the wealth of its stocks, emblematic pieces belonging to the Ceramics Museum have been featured at other exhibitions, both in Spain and abroad.  The following is a brief list of some of the exhibitions with which the Ceramics Museum has collaborated by loaning its works:

Candelstick. Manises 15th century

Miró. Head, 1980

• Miró: la terra (Ferrara-Italia / Madrid)
• Tierras de Olivo. Esencia y pasado (Baeza)
• Floridablanca. 1728-1808 (Murcia / Madrid)
• Alicante: el gran puerto de Alfonso el Magnánimo (Alicante)
• Cerámica de Artistas (Muel)
• Un Mar de lleis (Barcelona) 
• Picasso. (Sofia-Bulgaria)

Between others, the count of Aranda bust (Alcora, 18th century) has been restored by the Murcia city council

Beginning on 7 October, the Museum of Ceramics will exhibit a Lurra (1988) by the sculptor Eduardo Chillida (San Sebastián, 1924 – 2002), on loan by the French collectors Sylvie Balthazar and Hervé Eon