Mariano Burgués

MARIANO BURGUÉS I SERRA (Sabadell 1851-1932).
Nasrid style jardinière, 1885-95.
In glazed ceramic.
Signed on the base and under the pot.
Measurements: 44 x 65 x 65cm (pot); 108,5 x 40,5 x 40,5 cm (base).

The piece has two independent parts. The upper one, of globular form of great size, is decorated by two feminine masks as an ornamental motif of the handles. The colors used range from maroon in the upper part to green in different tones in the lower part. The base has a rectangular structure, with a wider base at the bottom. It is in this part where the Mudejar influence is completely present, in the motifs that are lavished on the four sides, each with a horseshoe arch with poly-lobed decoration inside, and the rest of vegetal and geometric type, characteristic of Arab art. The base is enameled completely in green, varying its intensity.
Mariano Burgués started in the world of ceramics in his father's workshop in Sabadell and perfected his technique in Mataró and Thuir. He lived in Coimbra, an important center of the ceramic industry, and later worked in Muel and Manises. In 1876 he returned to Sabadell, after having acquired a long experience that he put into practice in his father's workshop and that helped him to work as a theoretician. He participated in literary and political talks, becoming an active figure in the cultural sphere. He was co-founder of the Academy of Fine Arts of Sabadell and of the first Faianç Català in Sabadell in 1897. In 1901, together with his nephew Santiago Segura, he established, in Barcelona, the second Faianç Català, a key figure in the noucentista movement. He was a fundamental character in the evolution of Catalan ceramics for having experimented with new techniques and contributing to their diffusion. He published Estudis de terrissa catalana (1925). He exhibited in the Layetanas Galleries in 1926 and 1930 with the samples "glazed glass and original ceramics of Mariano Burgués" and in the Sala Parés in Barcelona in 1926.
The last third of the nineteenth century marked a key moment in the history of European Decorative Arts. At that time some movements were developed that sought to recover the traditional craft techniques, highlighting the so-called historicism, i.e., return to the styles of the past, neo-Renaissance, neo-Mudejar or neo-Baroque.