Lithographic stone mould

It has drawings of Chinese figures that were used in the Pickman Factory - La Cartuja de Sevilla.

The museum collections house a pair of vases (DJ13485 and DJ13486), one of which is on display in room 7 on the lower-ground floor. They are decorated with the same oriental figures that appear in this mould and were copied from the porcelain that came to Europe from China. Thanks to this mould that was kept in the storerooms of the Pickman Factory in Seville we know that the drawing on these vases was produced beforehand with a lithograph and then hand-painted on the print. This technique of printing with lithographs was uncommon at the factory where calcography was normally used. In fact, only one stone mould has been preserved in the factory compared with over 2000 copper and zinc ones. With lithogrpaphy, as we can see in these vases, a very fine engraving was achieved which may have been reserved for the most stylish pieces, alternatively it was possibly only used as a test in the factory.