Royal Factory of Sargadelos
The Sargadelos ceramics is a famous ceramic made in Sargadelos (in the Lugo municipality of Cervo, Galicia, Spain). The first factory (Real Fábrica de Sargadelos) was created at the beginning of the XIX century by Antonio Raimundo Ibáñez and after several generations ended up closing in 1875.
From the middle of the XX century, a new ceramic initiative in Sargadelos, based on colorations in bluish tones, forms part of a group of companies in the sector, the Sargadelos group —to which Castro-Sada ceramics also belongs— thanks to the impulse of the ceramicist Isaac Díaz Pardo
Historical summary
Antonio Raimundo Ibáñez, a notable encyclopedist from a noble family with few resources, dedicated from a very young age to import and export businesses, introduced technological innovations to his factories. Based in Ribadeo, he started a steel industry, and in 1806 They jointly created a ceramics factory that was dedicated in its early days to the manufacture of fine earthenware for tableware with stamping and influenced by English earthenware, highly valued at that time. In 1808, after the successful inauguration of the ceramics factory, Carlos IV awarded him the cross of the Order of Carlos III, granting him the titles of Marquis of Sargadelos and Count of Orbaiceta.
As a consequence of the War of Independence and its revolutionary events, Antonio Raimundo Ibáñez was assassinated in 1808, succeeded by his brother-in-law Francisco Acevedo, who hired the Portuguese Antonio Correa de Saa.
From this new management, the factory produced a type of ceramic decorated with red and blue fillets and gold shields. Correa decided in 1829 to set up his own factory, so the management of Sargadelos fell on that date to Hilario Marcos. The tableware of that time was made in white, without being possible the competition with the English pieces, wish of its founder. When the ownership of the factory passed to José Ibáñez due to the death of his father in 1832, a company was formed with the Sevillian Antonio de Tapia in order to undertake again "the manufacture of fine earthenware", hiring the Englishman Richard as director., a position he held until 1842. During this time, José Ibáñez died prematurely and his widow had to take charge, since her son was a minor; Due to the weak economic situation of the company, he had to lease it in 1845.
The ceramics factory went through four stages, each with its own characteristics, closing for good in 1875. In the last third of the XX century ceramic manufacturing reappeared in Sargadelos, occupying new buildings and respecting the old ruins as a Historic-Artistic complex, a designation that was given to it in 1972
The Beginnings
Ibáñez had in the first place the necessary raw material that was also very close: clay, kaolin, firewood, watercourses. It also had the port of San Ciprián very close to send the products from there to distant places, thus imitating the English initiative.
The creation of the ceramic factory in 1806 implied a new production system, introducing the mechanical process that would come to replace the handmade piece, with which they also tried to lower prices. Hand painting was also replaced by the modern printing system, imported from Bristol (England). The objects were made in fine earthenware, an intermediate product between earthenware and porcelain, a hard and light material at the same time, with thin walls fired between 1,100 °C and 1,200 °C. After firing the color is white and that is when a lead varnish is applied. This system differs from earthenware in that instead of adding sand to the paste, silica, feldspar, kaolin and calcium are added, obtaining different results depending on the amounts added. On this paste is superimposed the stamping whose technique had been perfected in 1761 by John Sadler and Guy Green, in the Liverpool factory.
First period 1806-1832
In 1806 Antonio Raimundo Ibáñez obtained from the Government an exclusive privilege for the exploitation of the quartz mines discovered to date and for those that were still undiscovered. In this way he had secured the raw material for the earthenware factory, which had begun its journey that same year, parallel to the already existing foundry. The factory complex consisted of two courtyards, several ovens, offices, machines for breaking rocks, and a mill for varnishes.
The first director, Juan Antonio Pérez, was in charge of the factory for one year. Later, in 1807, he was replaced by the Portuguese José Antonio Correa de Saa, with the experience of having directed the Vale da Piedade factory. Correa de Saa remained in charge until 1829; In this year Hilario Marco became the director, whose management lasted until 1832, when it was necessary to close the company.
In 1809 Antonio Raimundo Ibáñez had died and the administrative direction had passed to his brother-in-law Francisco Azevedo (written with a zeta). They were difficult years and financial difficulties, with a warehouse of unsold pieces, although there was some movement thanks to the orders received from La Coruña, Ferrol, Rías Bajas, Vizcaya and Castilla. At this time the royal crown was not yet stamped on the brands, although the factory began to be called the Royal Factory. It is believed that the title was authorized by Ferdinand VII from exile.
Francisco Azevedo was replaced in 1832 by the son of the founder José Ibáñez who was forced to close, given the unfavorable economic circumstances.
- The pieces and their elaboration
The manufacturing process was common earthenware, somewhat finer for the white tableware with a slight bluish tint and a characteristic cracking that is the result of the difference between the cooking point of the paste and the enamel. For the shape plaster molds were used. One of the most characteristic pieces was the finger vase, while the other vases of fish and trees are also highly appreciated, the surviving specimens of which are in private collections in Galicia and in the museums of La Coruña, Lugo and Pontevedra. The pedestal garden vase inspired by the pottery of the Wedgwood factory was also made as well as the pilgrim's jugs. The pharmacy jars were decorated with reliefs and had a small taper in the center.
The relief that represents the defense of the Monleón park in Madrid, which Ibáñez himself dedicated to Fernando VII and which is preserved in the National Archaeological Museum, plus the series of the Apostolate, plus the reliefs that represent heroes, also corresponds to this period. of Independence and busts of famous men from Antiquity that adorn the pazo of Antonio Raimundo Ibáñez.
Second period 1835-1842
After two years of inactivity, the factory was reopened when José Ibáñez got a capitalist partner in the person of the Sevillian businessman Antonio de Tapia y Piñeiro. The technical director was the French Richard who managed to form a staff of professionals from other parts of the peninsula. When José Ibáñez died in 1836, his widow, Anita Varela, was in charge of the business. It was a time of extensions with new ovens and mills; a hall for stampings was even built.
- The pieces and their elaboration
The novelty pieces that were manufactured were inspired by the Book of Forms published by the Hartley Greens and Company factory in Leeds. Tableware and many other pieces such as clocks and chandeliers continued to come out blank, as well as information plates with mythological or religious motifs. Around 1838 a change began in the production of white; The first prints with popular Galician themes were made and some tableware with German flower prints began to appear. These first moments of coloring were very successful in bibelots, the Mambrú beer mug being very famous and appreciated. >, inspired by the English tobies.
Third epoch. Age of splendor 1845-1862
Once again the economic situation forced the factory to close in 1842. From 1845 under the management of the new tenant Luis de la Riba from Santiago de Compostela, the company took a new course and came to hire numerous families who allowed the creation of large quantities of pieces of good quality, both aesthetically and technically, and some royal tableware was made for Isabel II —part of which is exhibited in the Museo de Pontevedra—, this period was directed by Edwing Forestier and a group of English potters who arrived in 1847 from Staffordshire. The tableware was made of fine but very hard earthenware called "flint" in the Elizabethan style. At this time the factory employed a thousand families; It owned three hundred pairs of oxen and twenty-two coastal vessels, it was the moment of maximum splendor enjoyed by the manufacture of this ceramic.
In these years the promenades called Paseo de la Presa and Paseo de los Enamorados were laid out. With the elevation of the dam a greater fall of water was achieved. On April 1, 1848, the highway that connected the factories with the nearby port of San Ciprián was inaugurated.
- The pieces and their elaboration
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The tableware and jugs had a stamped decoration, largely in an industrial way, the technique used was to engrave a copper or tin plate with the drawing to be copied —the first plates were imported from England—, later it was inked with mixed color With fat. This plate was printed on a thin paper that was glued to the surface of the bisqued piece. This piece absorbed the ink and the drawing or decoration was printed, the paper was removed with water and covered with a lead varnish and it was fired for a second time.
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The transparency of this varnish allowed the printed drawing to be seen with maximum clarity as well as giving it a special shine. The most frequent decoration at this time in Sagardelos was the so-called "gondola", which consists of a landscape drawing, in which the first term is formed by a balustrade with a large vase, behind which a river with a gondola can be seen.; the background is made up of some hills with architecture and trees; other decorations featured swans, peacocks, or Chinese themes. The colors used were black, violet, red, green and light cobalt blue. Another type or series were the decorations of "illuminated earthenware" that consisted of, once the stamping was done, the pieces were polychromed with a brush. The most numerous themes in this case were floral ones in red, green, yellow and blue. In the jars and tall pieces the decoration was made in the domed part and if the pot had a lid, it was also decorated.
There was another very successful innovation that was the series called opaque china, in imitation of the English flown blue. It consisted of manipulating the stamping plate so that the drawing was slightly smeared or out of focus, thus giving an enigmatic appearance. The theme was always Chinese.
The popular pieces that had been so successful in the previous stage were not lost and the manufacture of the Mambrús jars continued, and the figures of seated macaques, bears, dogs, ducks, doves etc with which toothpick holders and sauce boats were also made. Other works were small fonts for holy water, inkwells or centerpieces. Objects were also made that ceased to be useful after more than a century, such as ewers, spittoons, urinals and footbaths.
The company returned to the management of the Ibáñez family in 1862, from then on it suffered a decline until it finally closed in 1875.
Fourth epoch 1870-1875
In 1862 the contract with Luis de la Riba ended, after which a few years passed without activity. In 1870, Carlos Ibáñez Varela, a mining engineer and grandson of the founder, reopened the factory, but after five years it was finally closed and its facilities were dismantled to such an extent that they left no trace.
During these five years, the pieces came out with the same drawings and prints, although the opaque china disappeared and the tableware of the first period reappeared, white and lined with blue and green.
- Brands
All the ceramics from Sargadelos came out with their corresponding mark, incised in the first and second epochs and engraved in the third and fourth epochs. Next to the marks you could see the initials of the artists and sometimes numbers that were related to the size of the pieces. Sargadelos came to use around twenty-five brands.
Brands used during the first and second time.
Brands used during the third time.
Brands used during the fourth epoch.
20th and 21st centuries
- Background
In 1949, the potter Isaac Díaz Pardo created a factory in El Castro, —O Castro de Samoedo—, a place in the parish of Osedo, in the municipality of Sada. The factory was called Cerámicas do Castro and began with a limited series of works by prominent artists. Their tableware was in great demand, not only in Galicia but in the rest of the country, thus increasing production and the number of workers.
At the height of production, in 1955 Díaz Pardo made a trip to Argentina where a group of exiled Spanish artists and intellectuals were: Luis Seoane, Andrés Albalat (architect) and Fernando Arranz among others. Together they created the Shapes Laboratory, an initiative aimed at recovering and studying the ceramic shapes of bygone times and those that still survived in those years. As a consequence of these studies and projects, they founded a porcelain factory in the city of Magdalena, located to the east of the province of Buenos Aires, about 100 km from the capital. The factory was called La Magdalena. It was a very modern project, with a circular work arrangement as the workers changed jobs, learning all the phases of the manufacturing process, and even taking part in the designs. It closed its doors and activity in 1980.
- Sargadelos
The continuation and implementation of the idea of the Forms Laboratory manifested itself in the recovery of the old Sargadelos factory whose circular plant was inaugurated in 1970. This building was built out of the remains of the old foundry industrial complex with the interest of conserving the ruins for which in 1972 the designation of Historic-Artistic Complex was obtained, which would later be called an Asset of Cultural Interest.
The new era began manufacturing tableware and decoration pieces, using blue and golden brown as basic colors, incorporating red in very special pieces since the process of this color made the product more expensive. Classic shapes were given importance, also incorporating new avant-garde shapes from the Laboratorio de Formas studio and designed by Luis Seoane. Of particular interest were the portraits of famous literary and artistic figures, both in sculptural form and in Mambrú jars. The first of this series was the work dedicated to Rosalía de Castro followed by Antonio Machado, León Felipe, Castelao, Unamuno, Valle Inclán and Pérez Galdós and the painter Picasso. Medieval characters such as the teacher Mateo, Bishop Gelmírez or the popular heroine, María Pita. In 1981 the Galician fauna series came out, with reproductions of all kinds of birds and other animals typical of Galicia, designed by Calros Silvar, recently incorporated as product designer at Cerámicas del Castro, where he would remain until October 2010.
Another series that was popularly accepted and highly successful was that of the amulets, small figures to hang around the neck, each one with its own particular legend, inspired by the stories of the witches and the way to defend themselves from their spells.
Sargadelos jewelry, designed by Carmen Arias De Castro "Mimina", was also highly appreciated for its combination of silver and ceramic; Rings, bracelets, charms, necklaces, earrings, etc. were made.
In 1988, a museum was set up where all the material recovered from the old foundry factories is exhibited, as well as the area dedicated to Spanish ceramics and especially Sargadelos ceramics from each era.
Depending financially on the factories of Sargadelos and Castro, a publishing house called Ediciós do Castro was launched; a contemporary art museum located in Sada, called the Carlos Maside Museum; a communication center that receives the name of the Galician Institute of Information; the Galician Studies Seminar. For the dissemination of ceramics there are the Sargadelos Galleries distributed throughout Galicia, Madrid and Barcelona.
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