The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1883-05-12
Our 0liu.
Portuguese Pottery.

Portuguese Pottery.
From the Academy:
This Oporto exhibition contains col
lection from every province in the kingdom
of the domestic wares of the common peo-
ple-the pans, jugs, jars and pipkins OF
daily life. The iron pot and the tin Kettle
are the natural invaders which drive out
domestic earthenware; but in the majority
of Portuguese cottages and farm houses
these metallic invaders are unknown, and
all the operations Of the kitchen are still
performed with earthenware vessels in
them also wine and oil and all the scanty
groceries of the poor are stored. The first
impression this household pottery gives Is
that one has seen many of these very shapes
before in the museums of Roman, Greek
and Etrurian antiquities. As the Portu-
cuese language preserves more Latlnlty
than either Spanish or Italian, so 1t appears
to me that the shapes of crockery are more
unchanged from Roman times in Portugal
than elsewhere in Southern Europe. The
poet who spoke of acre perennius did not
foresee that brass was as nothing IN dura-
ton to fragment of the cOmmonest un-
Glazed earthenware Two thousand years
have converted much brass-work into masses
of verdigris, but the Roman and Etrurian
pots and jars have come down to us as
fresh as if the potter had turned them
yesterday, and, what is odder, the shapes
are as unchanged as the material. The
Portuguese potter to-day in the villages OF
Algarve and Beira does not depart hair $
breadth from the model the Romans left
here l, 400 years ago, and the omPhorae,
the Jars and the pitchers in this exhibition
are precisely of the classic forms. But
there are shapes here different from, and
perhaps older even than these The broad
mouthed jugs with serrated lips, seen here
in endless variety, are not OF Roman type,
nor are the many specimens OF "toy pottery,
some of which are certainly symbolic Of
nature worship. | will not hazard con-
lecture as to their origin, but it is to be
noted that many come from localities where
colonies from the eastern shores OF the
Mediterranean are known to have settled
From Lagos, for instance, seaport IN the
extreme south, comes black unglazed jar
having for ornament an alto-relief of the
human figure-no better likeness of our
anatomy than the figure in man-orchls,
but of very strikingly archaic type. From
the same place comes a grOtesGue OF stag
with the well-known symbol Of the sun be-
tween its antlers At Aveiro and Ovar,
on the west coast, both the und0ubted seats
of an ancient Oriental immigration, the
roof-ridges of the houses and the corners
of the caves are decorated with quaint
grotesques Of birds, dogs, fishes, kylins,
and dragons, rudely modelled in terra Gotta,
and about six or seven inches in length
and breadth. The Moorish potting tradi-
tions, again, are very marked in the we'll
known GnoOrincS, OF water-coolers- rounded
bodies with semi-circular handles and spouts
on either side. These are sometimes orna-
mented with incised arabesques, sometimes
very effectively with bits of white quartz
let in while the clay was damp, sometimes
with a star pattern embossed with mold
on which shining particles Of mica have
been made to adhere The double-gourd
shaped jar and the pierced circular pilgrim
bottle-a common type-are also, | think,
traditions from the time of the Moors and
probably the ''puzzle jug" Of which there
are many types here, is an invention of
that nation Of ingenious and accomplished
potters,