Stool

A hexagonal garden seat with a circular base and seat decorated with hand-painted motifs in relief. Six rectangular features forming the feet of the stool and marked in dark brown, protrude from the base, which is painted in white and gold. The body is decorated with motifs of cherry branches and blossoms. Each of the six sides is separated by a relief of blue and gold cordwork on the upper section. The part at the top of the seat is a different circular element ringed with a light blue border with geometric incisions. The upper part is flat, slightly concave and decorated with different concentric bands, one in cobalt blue and gold and another in pink, while the centre is painted in white and gold with a oval, lobulated hole allowing the piece to be picked up with ease.

It is a garden seat in a "Japanese" style, one of those featuring in the factory's price book in 1907 in the section "Artistic Ceramics", alongside others such as "Girasol", "Griego" and "“Tonel calado” and is marked as one of the most sophisticated pieces.

Japanese-influenced decorations are common in the La Cartuja's artistic production, a feature shared with all the Spanish and European ceramic factories from the end of the 19th century, when Japanese was seen as somewhat different to Chinese and began to appear in many products and art works. This influence spread via a number of routes including the International Expos, which facilitated ties between factories and industries. The first European expos for Japanese art took place in London in 1854 and 1862. La Cartuja's participation in these events therefore gave it direct contact with the aesthetic movements of the time.

The exact date of the piece is not known because it does not bear a stamp, although Beatriz Maestre attributes the garden seats to the production from the 1900s to the 1930s. However, they may have been produced earlier, from 1880, at the beginning of the height of the productions of artistic ceramic pieces.