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Aresta tiles with a vegetal renaissance motif

Unknown16th century -

Palácio Nacional de Sintra

Palácio Nacional de Sintra
Sintra, Portugal

A group of aresta tiles placed on the altar located on the right side of the Palatine Chapel at the National Palace of Sintra. In the late 15th century, a new process for separating colours was introduced into Spain. This was known as the “aresta” or “cuenca” technique, which involved the use of wooden moulds with grooves forming patterns that were stamped under pressure onto the clay tiles while still wet. The ridges that resulted from this procedure formed barriers that divided up the different areas of the tile to be filled with enamels and thus prevented the different colours from becoming mixed together. The corda-seca technique – which was the main one used at the National Palace of Sintra – and the aresta technique coexisted for the first few decades of the 16th century, reproducing the same decorative patterns of geometrical motifs, which later evolved into Renaissance motifs, as in this present case.

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  • Título: Aresta tiles with a vegetal renaissance motif
  • Criador: Unknown
  • Data: 16th century -
  • Local: Seville, Spain
  • Original Title (portuguese): Azulejos de aresta com motivos renascentistas e elementos vegetalistas
  • Rights Information: National Palace of Sintra
  • Photo: Carlos Monteiro, 2010.
  • Material(s) / Technique(s): Glazed clay / Aresta with polychrome enamels
  • Image Rights: © Direção-Geral do Património Cultural / Arquivo de Documentação Fotográfica
  • Hispano-Moresque Tiles: The interior walls of the National Palace of Sintra are lined with Europe’s largest set of Mudejar tiles still in place today, most of which originate from Seville, although one should not exclude the (as yet still unconfirmed) possibility that many of the tiles were produced locally with the use of imported labour. Mudejar tiles were brought to Portugal with the arrival of Arab culture in the Iberian Peninsula, incorporating new ceramic techniques and decorative styles. This influence continued even after the Christian reconquest of the territory in the 12th century, later giving rise, in the 15th and 16th centuries, to the appearance of various types of tiles and the use of different techniques that reflected the evolution of decorative styles – alicatado, corda-seca, aresta, esgrafitado (sgraffito) and relevado (relief work). Visitors to the palace can therefore enjoy a unique experience, since they are afforded an overall view of this heritage in Portugal – a specific form of decorative coverings for walls and floors, involving the use of exclusive patterns, such as the motif of the armillary sphere or relief tiles.
  • Tipo: Ceramics, Tiles
Palácio Nacional de Sintra

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