For me personally, the passion for 17th faience, albeit a late discovery, has become an intense almost obsessive pursue. The quality and the beauty of the objects and the ingenuity and creativity of the potters, associated to the production historic context, were decisive in the awakening of this taste, also firmly
encouraged by António Lima.
Contributing to this ever increasing enthusiasm I have also had the invaluable input of several friends — Nuno Silva, Alexandre Pais, Manuel da Bernarda, João Teixeira, José Meco, Teresa Peralta, among other— with whom I have consistently developed my learning in interesting informal chats and enthusiastic
opinion exchanges, which overtime consolidated my knowledge and expertise. Fascinated by my discovery of this extraordinary ceramic production — barely known both in Portugal and overseas — and rather annoyed by the constant usurpation of its attribution, constantly referred to as from Hamburg, I challenged Philippe Mendes to co-organise an exhibition in Paris, exclusively focusing on 17th century Portuguese faience, an idea that he unhesitatingly embraced. Faience is clearly an important milestone in the crossroad of cultures, as, along with jewelry, it constitutes one of the first ‘chinoiserie’, introducing the exoticism of Chinese motifs into pieces manufactured in Europe. With a determined feeling of crusading we marched on that European capital, in what became a major landmark in the international exposure of this unique Portuguese ceramic, so cherished and yet so forgotten. Success was resounding and immediate, followed by numerous press reports in French national newspapers and magazines.One of the exhibited pieces, the anthropo-zoomorphic aquamanile from my collection, was selected as the ‘Month Masterpiece’ by Connaissance des Arts magazine no. 755, January 2017 edition. This was followed by a request for the loan of a few pieces for an exhibition on Chinese porcelain from the Ming Wanli period at the Guimet Museum in 2019, a conference in Belgium on the subject, and the growing interest of European, American, and even Chinese museums in our faience. It finally felt like ‘Mission Accomplished’! We had initiated a new phase in the international knowledge of Portuguese Faience, turning it into a World heritage rather than just our own. I can now recall contacts from various museums, European as well as American, whose curators had visited that exhibition, questioning me on whether ceramic pieces in their collections, historically catalogued as from Hamburg, could in reality be Portuguese. I feel that São Roque can now shout out that the Battle has been won.
All this success leads me to share with you new pieces in this second volume, in the hope that it may contribute further to the promotion of Portuguese faience. I can only say thank you to all that have assisted me with this task.
Mário Roque