{"product_id":"portuguese-blue-and-white-faience-wall-bracket-shell-fluted-with-acanthus-collar-and-cobalt-drop-marked-pedrangol-c-1975-1995","title":"Portuguese Blue and White Faience Wall Bracket, Shell-Fluted with Acanthus Collar and Cobalt Drop, Marked Pedrangol, c. 1975–1995","description":"  \u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA ceramic wall bracket — a small shelf that hangs on the wall to carry something else — hand-painted in cobalt blue on a warm white ground.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe body is modelled as a \u003cstrong\u003efluted shell\u003c\/strong\u003e, swelling out from the wall and narrowing to a point, with the flutes running down the underside like the ribs of a scallop. It finishes in a \u003cstrong\u003edeep cobalt teardrop finial\u003c\/strong\u003e, glazed so heavily that the blue pools almost black.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAbove the shell sits a \u003cstrong\u003eseparate collar\u003c\/strong\u003e, a shallow open well with an outward-rolled rim, painted all round with \u003cstrong\u003erunning acanthus scrollwork\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe main face carries a \u003cstrong\u003espray of flowers\u003c\/strong\u003e in the Portuguese manner: broad open blossoms with radiating stamens, painted in washes of pale blue and then drawn over in a darker line, with feathered leaves trailing away beneath them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe back is flat, glazed white, ribbed across the middle for strength, and pierced with \u003cstrong\u003etwo moulded keyhole slots\u003c\/strong\u003e ready for screws. A printed label reads \u003cstrong\u003ePEDRANGOL — MADE IN PORTUGAL\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePortuguese blue and white is not an imitation of Delft. It is a sibling, and it has the better claim.\u003c\/strong\u003e Portugal's ships were the ones carrying Chinese blue-and-white porcelain back to Europe on the India route, and Portuguese potters were among the first Europeans with the real thing in front of them to copy. By the seventeenth century blue on white had taken over Portuguese ceramics; by the early eighteenth it produced the \u003cem\u003eGolden Age of the Azulejo\u003c\/em\u003e, when demand from Portugal and from Brazil turned tile-making into an industry.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe technique is tin glaze, and it is unforgiving.\u003c\/strong\u003e An opaque white glaze is laid over the fired body and the cobalt is painted straight onto that raw, powdery surface before the second firing. The glaze drinks the pigment instantly. There is no wiping back, no correction and no second attempt — every stroke is final, which is why the brushwork on good faience has the speed it does.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eYou can see that speed on this piece.\u003c\/strong\u003e The flower petals are laid in as broad washes and then outlined over the top in a darker blue; the stamens are single flicks radiating from the centre; the acanthus on the collar is one continuous running stroke with the loaded brush, thinning as the colour runs out and reloading visibly at intervals. A transfer print has none of that variation — it is even everywhere, and it does not thin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe form is architectural.\u003c\/strong\u003e A wall bracket of this type descends from the carved and gilded console brackets that carried busts, clocks, vases and saints' figures in European interiors, translated here into glazed earthenware. The two-part design does a specific job: the shell is the visible ornament, and the collar above it is the actual seat, with a rolled rim to stop whatever stands in it from walking off the front.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDated on the label and the finish.\u003c\/strong\u003e The mark is a \u003cstrong\u003emodern printed self-adhesive label\u003c\/strong\u003e in a clean sans-serif — not a gummed paper mark, not a stamped or painted backstamp — and the country-of-origin wording is import marking for an export market. The glaze is bright and unworn and the piece is press-moulded from a clean mould with sharp flutes. Dated on those: \u003cstrong\u003ec. 1975–1995\u003c\/strong\u003e. \u003cem\u003ePedrangol\u003c\/em\u003e is named on the label; nothing further about the firm is asserted here.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"1\" cellpadding=\"8\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width:100%; border-collapse:collapse;\"\u003e\n  \u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eField\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eDetail\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\u003c\/thead\u003e\n  \u003ctbody\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eObject\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eCeramic wall bracket — a wall-mounted shelf for a vase, plant, figure, clock or candle\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eOrigin\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003ePortugal. Labelled \u003cem\u003ePEDRANGOL — MADE IN PORTUGAL\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eForm\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eFluted shell body tapering to a cobalt teardrop finial, beneath a separate shallow collar with an outward-rolled rim; flat glazed back with a moulded strengthening rib and two keyhole hanging slots\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eDecoration\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eHand-painted cobalt on a white tin-type glaze — a flower spray with radiating stamens and feathered foliage to the face, running acanthus scrollwork to the collar, blue line borders. Brushwork, not transfer print.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMaterial\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eGlazed earthenware\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMarks\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003ePrinted self-adhesive label to the reverse reading \u003cem\u003ePEDRANGOL \/ MADE IN PORTUGAL\u003c\/em\u003e. No painted or impressed backstamp.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eEra\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003ec. 1975–1995. Dated on the modern printed import label, the unworn glaze and the clean press-moulding; the blue-and-white idiom itself is three centuries older and carries no date.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eExcellent. No chips, no cracks, no crazing, no restoration and no repairs; both keyhole slots are clear and undamaged, the rim is complete, the finial is perfect, and the painting is crisp and unfaded throughout. \u003cstrong\u003eExpect the ordinary marks of the kiln rather than of use\u003c\/strong\u003e — slight glaze pooling and a few pinholes in the recesses, minor unevenness along the unglazed edge where the piece met the shelf, and the label showing light handling. It appears to have hung, if at all, only briefly. Condition Guaranteed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eAvailability\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eOne of a Kind — 1 Available\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003c\/tbody\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA wall bracket solves a problem most rooms have, which is a wall with nothing to put anything on.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt gives a single object its own stage at eye level — a small vase with one stem in it, a trailing plant, a candle, a clock, a bust, a piece of coral, a favourite cup. Put it in a stair turn, a hallway, a narrow strip of wall between doors, either side of a mirror or a window, or above a console where a lamp would crowd the surface. Two of them flanking something make a doorway out of an ordinary wall.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe colour is the easiest in decoration. Cobalt on white goes with brown furniture, painted furniture, brass, copper, natural linen, dark green and almost any timber, and it is as comfortable in a kitchen as in a bedroom or a hall.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat lifts this above a factory piece is that somebody painted it by hand, at speed, with no second chances — you can follow the brush along the acanthus and watch the blue run out.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA note on hanging, and it matters with ceramics. \u003cstrong\u003eFix it into a stud or use proper wall anchors, and hang it low enough that you can see into the collar.\u003c\/strong\u003e Earthenware is heavy and brittle: the two keyhole slots must both take a screw, the screw heads must sit fully into the slots, and the piece should rest flat against the wall rather than on the screw shanks. Keep the load light — this is display, not shelving — and do not stand anything on it that overhangs the front.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA note on care. Dust it with a soft dry brush, which gets into the flutes better than a cloth. Wipe it with a barely damp cloth when it needs more and dry it at once. \u003cstrong\u003eNo dishwasher, no bleach, no abrasive pad and no acid descaler\u003c\/strong\u003e, all of which will dull a glaze and eventually get under it. Keep it out of a frost-prone porch, and lift it off the wall with two hands under the body rather than by the rim.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48040938831977,"sku":"VE-0703","price":190.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/IMG_2027.jpg?v=1789130867","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/portuguese-blue-and-white-faience-wall-bracket-shell-fluted-with-acanthus-collar-and-cobalt-drop-marked-pedrangol-c-1975-1995","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}