Copies of the vast legacy of Raphael Bordallo Pinheiro and his son, Manuel Gustavo Bordallo Pinheiro, until 1920, currently produced by the hands of the Factory’s craftsmen, using centuries-old techniques.
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Paulo e Virgínia is a replica, on a smaller scale, of the pair of giant frogs created by Raphael Bordallo Pinheiro in 1889 and intended to decorate lakes and gardens.
Tradition says that in the factory, Bordallo named these two characters Paulo and Virgínia, inspired by the novel Paul et Virginie, by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, written in 1787. This sculptural group decorated the D. Carlos I Park, in Caldas da Rainha, from 1914 to 1920, as can be seen in postcards of the time, and was present in the Portuguese Pavilion of the 1889 Universal Exhibition of Paris.
The frog couple was exhibited by Raphael as one of the main pieces of his exhibition in Rio de Janeiro in 1899, as he presented his majestic Beethoven Jar in Brazil.
The cockle is a filtering bivalve mollusc that lives
buried at a depth of about 5 centimetres in sand or
mud, where it feeds by filtering the phytoplankton
from the water.
When threatened, it can quickly
burrow deeper by the retraction of the foot that keeps it anchored, which manoeuvre sometimes sallows cockles to escape predators.
Cockles are very common and up to 10,000 animals per square meter can be found.
Because of its high tolerance to low salinity environments, it is also frequently found in estuaries.
A giant wall leaf.
This is a model by Raphael Bordallo Pinheiro, witnessing the naturalist representation of the artist’s ceramic.
Raphael Bordallo Pinheiro worshiped cats. He, in a comic strip in the newspaper "Antonio Maria", confesses to being "cat in a previous life".
His cats were well known in his cartoons and in his ceramic pieces, maybe because cats are frequently scratching, an attitude very similar to his cartoons’ political satire.
A model by Raphael Bordallo Pinheiro with a decoration depicting a water pound, vegetation and dragonfly in relief.
Hand painted with the original techniques, thus bearing the artistic production stamp of the Fábrica Bordalo Pinheiro.
In 1896, Raphael Bordallo Pinheiro registers the patent of its ceramic swallows probably realizing that it could become a true Portuguese symbol.
The plate with the swallows on the nest expresses Raphael Bordallo Pinheiro’s affection for this animal.
A model by Raphael Bordallo Pinheiro.
A wall plate representing a chestnut tree branch, using the moss painting technique in the chestnuts cupules, and the drained painting technique on the plate
A model by Raphael Bordallo Pinheiro
A plate with different types of fruit on a naturalist painting with glaze.
Model by Raphael Bordallo Pinheiro, the big frog for suspending is part of the ceramic animal gallery created by the artist.
Later it was also used to decorate giant vases and fountains.
The art of caricature has always been a presence in the work of Raphael Bordallo Pinheiro, revealing the comic characters, be it popular, political or social.
Figurine with movement
A piece by Manuel Gustavo Bordallo Pinheiro