AZULEJO TILES
Portugal’s exquisitely-painted ceramic plaques or tiles known as azulejos make an ideal present for family and friends back home.
Mostly quadrangular with one decorated clay surface, they fit easily into suitcases or hand-luggage and carry very little extra weight.
Tile-making in Portugal dates back to ancient times. Red clay tiles decorated white were used in France and England in the 14th and 15th centuries, and the tile production technique was subsequently introduced in the Iberian Peninsula through the Moors. It became an immensely popular means of artistic expression in the 17th century by artists who came to work in some Lisbon quarters like Mouraria and Madragoa where tilemakers Ceramica Constância have been producing them up until the present day. During the 17th and 18th centuries, these workshops manufactured tiles almost exclusively in Lisbon.
The earliest existing tiles made in Portugal can be seen in São Roque Chapel in Lisbon and the exquisite Quinta da Bacalhoa estate nestling remotely in the Serra da Arrábida hills south of the capital. The tile panel of Nossa Senhora da Vida (Our Lady of Life) in Lisbon's National Azulejo Museum is another rare example.
At the end of the 17th century, a new way of painting tiles emerged. Blue and white tiles influenced by Dutch tilemakers and Chinese porcelain manufacturers were prevalent until the middle of the 18th century. Also, pieces of work were signed for the first time, a fact that reveals the growing importance of tilemaking at that time.