Marks study
One of the biggest challenges when researching facade tiles is to find out where they were made.
Unfortunately, all the factories in Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia have disappeared and with them most of the catalogues and references about the tiles that were produced there. Besides this, some designs were in great demand and were produced by several factories, which makes the task even more complicated.
But there is one feature of the tiles that is of great help to us when researching this point: the marks that these factories made on the back, called “tardoz” in Portuguese, on the still wet clay.
This is something that began to be done at the beginning of the 20th century to certify their origin and to help them to be fixed to the facades.
Although the back is something that remains hidden in the facade, there are times when the tiles fall leaving the negative of these marks visible on the wall.
We would like to make a compilation of these marks here to help you learn more about this heritage.
This is a work in progress. Any suggestion or collaboration is welcome. You can use the comments bellow.
Sources:
- Facade tile course by Francisco Queiroz.
- Portela Domingues, Ana Margarida (2009) «A ornamentação cerâmica na arquitectura do Romantismo em Portugal». Tese de Doutoramento em História de Arte. Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto.
- Different webs of selling vintage items.
- Own research.
Fábrica Cerâmica e de Fundição das Devezas
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