A technical overview of 16th century majolica tiles from Palácio e Quinta da Bacalhôa in Portugal

Abstract

The manufacture of majolica azulejos in Portugal started, as far as we know presently, around 1560s by the workshop of Hans Goos, a Flemish potter established in Lisbon as João de Góis. His younger brother, of whom we only know the adopted Portuguese name Filipe de Góis, was referred to in 1575 as a “master of glazed ceramics” and so he may have also produced azulejos around that time. The productions of what we may call the “circle of João de Góis” (maybe only a single workshop or maybe several sharing the same technology) encompasses a period thus starting around 1560 and lasting at least until the 1590s. Practically all the potentially locally-produced azulejos from this period that we have studied (around 20 different panels) could be fitted into the productions of that rather consistent circle, while confirmed imports from Antwerp and Seville are characterized by different technological traits. We had now the opportunity to study all the azulejo panels and patterned linings at the Palace, annexes and gardens of Bacalhôa, amounting to more than 50 different types, a research made all the more difficult by the mixing of tiles of like patterns but certainly different provenances and by the use of clays, glaze formulations or firing cycles that could not be safely included within the bounds of the circle of João de Góis. Since it is not viable to encompass all the types in a single paper, the most representative azulejo panels still extant at Bacalhôa were chosen, as well as the patterned types used at the Pleasure House by the lake and at the Palace itself. They were sampled and their morphological and chemical characteristics were compared between them and with previously published results, following which the panels and patterned tiles were organized in groups with a view to their future individual study.