Patterned tile panel and border ‘Grasshopper and corncob’

Patterned tile panel with decoration in relief, representing a grasshopper positioned diagonally on two corncobs, between sinuous leaves inspired by Art Nouveau. The frieze flanking the panel follows the same theme.
This pattern was created by Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro, in 1902, for the company Panificação Mecânica, Lda., in Campo de Ourique, and was used to adorn the display and sales counter.
During this period, the artist worked on the decoration of various commercial establishments, of which only two examples survive today in Lisbon, Panificação Mecânica, in Campo de Ourique, and Tabacaria Mónaco, in Rossio.
From 1900, when he went to Paris, he experimented thoroughly with the Art Nouveau aesthetic in the creation of original tile patterns, particularly the decorative friezes ‘Grasshopper and Corncob’, shown here, and ‘Butterfly and Corncob’, both created for Panificação de Campo de Ourique and regarded as pioneering in the use of this stylistic trend in Portugal.