Vase ‘Pears’

This piece is a fine example of the artist’s modernness: a vase whose spherical shape is squashed in favour of a revamp of the conventional format. It is glazed in a single colour, which changes and reflects according to the folds of the surface. A small pear branch, with leaves and fruit, is depicted in a naturalistic way, as if a piece of living nature were sprouting through cracks in the pottery. The piece does not lose its functional nature, however, and reveals a new decorative direction for Portuguese faïence.
As the 19th century turned into the 20th century, the artist experimented with new geometric and organic forms, such as this vase. He shared the concerns of foreign ceramicists of the same period, who were conducting similar experiments around shape and glazing, as well as decoration, influenced by ceramics from the Far East, in particular Japan, favouring their artisanal dimension.