Deep plate

Smooth deep plate produced in white earthenware painted with a naturalistic decoration in sepia. The main motif, in the "Jilguero" style, is in the centre of the piece. It depicts a scene of a pair of goldfinches as one of them flies off the branch of a tree in flower where they were perched to hunt one of the hovering insects that are attracted by the flowers. The rim features the "Chinesco" border motif.

On the back of the plate is La Cartuja's factory stamp; in this case consisting of an anchor inscribed in a double concentric circle which reads “PICKMAN * SEVILLA / CARTUJA”.

The series of naturalistic motifs to which this plate belongs is one of the most abundant and varied in La Cartuja's production and portrays a large number of animals and plants, especially flowers. Nature as a motif for inspiration has been a constant feature throughout the history of art given that it is an inexhaustible source for all types of ornaments, and have also become one of the fundamental pillars of the decorative arts.

The precursors of this series can be found in the tableware produced in England which captured orientally-inspired naturalist motifs imitating the pieces of Chinese porcelain that the East India Company imported from the colonies. Beatriz Maestre also presents as an example of this the decorative series designed by W. S. Coleman in 1870 for the Minton factory, in which fish, birds, insects and plants appears and which were used to decorate china, tableware, and tiles; it had a major influence on contemporaneous production.

La Cartuja's compositions, as Maestre points out, were most probably in-house designs, although they were also repeated in other national factories. Most of them are included in the album of drawings for 1885. The sources of inspiration were initially the educational encyclopaedias of fauna and flora and then were based on other publications such as the book by George Phillips, “Rudiments of Curvillinear Design” from 1838-1840, I. Page's “Guide for Drawing the Acanthus” from 1840 and Owen Jones's “Grammar of the Ornament” from 1856, which includes a series of botanical illustrations produced by Christopher Dresser.

In this case the decorative motif, as indicated, covers the whole of the piece but it was also common for them to occupy the rim of the plate or just one side. The techniques used were print, painting, and transfer. The cloisonné technique was occasionally used, although it is generally reserved for artistic ceramics and other decorative pieces.