Coleccionistas

Collectors

Ever since it was first founded, the collection of the National Museum of Ceramics and Decorative Arts has grown considerably thanks to a large number of donors who very often have remained in relative anonymity. A large part of these lesser-known donors are women who have constantly and selflessly collaborated with the museum since it was founded in 1947.

Thanks to all these women and their families, the collection has been able to grow in terms of typology, incorporating different kinds of objects such as jewellery, pottery, fans, tableware and decorative objects. Likewise, the museum also expanded its geographical sights, going beyond its local area of influence with the arrival of pieces from France, Peru, China, Japan and many different locations around Spain. Particularly of note are examples like the hand-blown glass pitcher donated by María Cristina Jiménez Raurell in 2023, made by Vidrierías Gordiola, the factory from Mallorca which is believed to be Spain’s fourth oldest company, having opened in 1719. Equally worth highlighting is a 10-piece tea set donated in 2000 by Isabel Puchol Serra. The set, which is signed, was made in a pottery workshop in the city of Nagoya in Japan during the height of Japan’s expansionist period.

Each of the pieces in our collection today has its own individual story, sometimes made in faraway places and other times of great symbolic value. Each of the women who donated their possessions to the museum did so for personal and altruistic reasons. In some cases, they donated artworks they had collected over their lifetime, like the Ming dynasty vase, which is part of the large collection of Asian pieces donated by Helen Drenth and her husband Tijmen Knecht in 1995. This high-quality collection was put together by the couple over the course of several decades, with acquisitions on their travels or in international auctions. In a similar vein, one would also include the collection of fans donated by Casilda Rincón de Arellano Castellvi and her siblings in 2012, including a fan from Macao of extraordinary quality and fine detailing. On other occasions, the donations are associated with simpler objects, at times bordering on kitsch, which decorated the homes of their original owners as part and parcel of their everyday lives. A good example of the latter is the collection of 360 ceramic dogs donated in 1981 by Amparo Bonet Aliño, here represented by one its best examples.

Likewise, the donations often contain deep sentimental value, especially pieces that were originally family mementos. This is the case of the eight-escudo gold coin minted in Lima, Peru, in 1774 and transformed in the early-twentieth century into a brooch with diamonds and rubies. This wonderful piece of jewellery, donated by Josefa Matoses Lliberós in 2002, was a gift from her father to her mother. On the other end of the scale we have objects related to professions, generally with an original utilitarian function, but later repurposed. A good example would be the large group of pharmacy jars made by the French factory J. Fontemoinge & L. Peigney in Paris. Dating from the late-nineteenth century, these pieces were donated by María Luisa Orbaneja in 1969, after having been used for decades in the no-longer-existing Aragón pharmacy in Valladolid.

Finally, worth underscoring is the role played by Friends of the National Museum of Ceramics, an association to support the museum, comprised largely of women, which has contributed notably to the growth of the museum’s collection, such as the presentation in 2023 of two tiles made by the Valencian artist Francisco Dasí Esteve, highly exceptional due to his scant production.

Juan Nieto Guerra

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