Featured Beautiful and delicately painted.....ideas?

Just found this. Any ideas?

 

Everything you'll want to know is on the bottom. A hand-painted ceramic piece from Portugal. "S. Pedro" may be the ceramic center of São Pedro do Corval. Can't read the line after.

Debora

 

It says Águeda, the name of a town north of Coímbra, Portugal.
In this case I think it is part of the maker's surname, S. Pedro Águeda, since the locality, Almeida, is at the bottom.

So it was probably made by someone named S. Pedro Águeda from the historical village of Almeida, northeastern Portugal.

 

This type of thing is a dime a dozen in my local thrifts. Is it actually worth anything?
In all honesty, though it's pretty, "delicately painted" is not a descriptive I would have used.

 

Welcome to Antiquers, @Grateful --

Now, what type of bird is that?

 

São Pedro, Águeda is the place. Almeida is more likely to be the name of the artisan. I would say the bird is an attempt at a pheasant... Could also be an attempt at a phoenix or bird of paradise (given the tail...)

 

Bird of paradise.

 

Good eyes; thank you. But I don't think Almeida is a ceramic center. (In fact, I don't think it's much of anything.) I'm going to disagree and say it's from Áqueda. Apparently, the local pottery features those fanciful birds. Here's one example off the internet. I can't find a ceramic manufacturer there named São Pedro but this company, Cerágueda-Cerâmica Artística de Águeda, Lda., gives their location within Áqueda as São Pedro so could be a possibility. Almeida is a common Portuguese surname so I suspect that would be painter. From photograph, I can't tell what is -- a pin box? -- but appears to be a souvenir item.

Debora

 

Thanks, just sorting boxes handed to me from every relative on Earth. Got it, a generation or so, lots of people brought these home. And, I stand corrected....delicately painted is not appropriate for an antiques board unless it is truly unusual. I'll just look and read for awhile. Thanks, again.

 

Grateful, I happen to LOVE these Portuguese ceramics, and I have never considered them "dime a dozen" or "souvenirs" of anything. I collect them for their designs and colors, just as I do with French, English, Irish, Italian, Hungarian, Greek, Czech and even Chinese ceramics.

Here are a few bits, many from my "Portugal" group, but grouped more by color than by country of origin:

 

Sorry, I didn't mean to be flippant! I think I'm seeing the really cheap tourist pieces, not nice ones like you've pictured.

 

Oh, Bluumz - no offense taken!

I happen to LOVE color, so all of these "folk-type" pieces really appeal to me. I just wanted to let @Grateful know not to dismiss that sweet little piece out of hand.. Someone else WILL want it!

p.s. I am the one who has a collection of Mrazek Czech pottery in her downstairs powder room! A while back, when a long-time poster here found a piece of Mrazek, she thought it had been done by an amateur, at-home painter! (I obtained my first piece of Mrazek in the 1960's, when I was just a kid. I started collecting the Portuguese stuff (AND Deruta, from Italy) in the early 1970's, when I was still in college!)

Different tastes are what makes us, as a group, so interesting!

 

every honest opinion counts..........

 

And knowledgeable.

 

Well said!

 

Because I can't leave some things alone.....I found these images online of a similar item to mine, although mine is slightly larger (2-3/4 high and 4" widest diameter), not as pristine, has another dimension to the bottom, with blue "dots" and no real "glaze" on it. I don't care about value, just trying to learn if artists typically use the same theme to this extent?? Thanks in advance for helping a true novice. My husband is over these boxes, and wants them tossed or donated.

 

These types of items are produced by craftsmen, not artists. And, yes, it's common for those working in a specific region to use the same motifs. (If that answers your question.)

Debora

 

Love them, SBS. That blue deer platter is gorgeous, I always like those jumping deer anyway. And I never thought Portuguese pottery a dime a dozen either.

It is a generic Portuguese style, based on historic styles, mostly from the 16th-17th centuries. It is made in different parts of Portugal, and as Debora said, by craftspeople, not artists. Each piece is handmade.

Similar historic styles can be found in other parts of Europe, but not as much as in Portugal.