Decorative tiles between Brazil and Europe: the case of the Santa Catharina factory

Abstract It was in the first decade of the twentieth century that the first white china Factory was implemented in Brazil. Fruit of the association between the Sao Paulo Aristocracy and the Italian Romeo Ranzini, this factory was responsible for producing significant amounts of crockery in industrial moulds in sao Paulo, Brazil. It was also the first factory to produce decorative tiles that would be part of the architecture of the public buildings built between 1919 and 1922 in Commemoration of the Centennial of the Brazilian Independence. Known as The Santa Catharina Factory, this factory was inaugurated in 1913 with the participation of Italian immigrants and German technologies for the development of its first manufacturing activities. As a result of a number of economic, political and social matters that started in the previous century in the city of Sao Paulo, The Santa Catharina factory played an important role in industrial development as regards the production of national white china and was used as a model for the construction of new ceramic factories in Sao Paulo. After acquired by Matarazzo industries in 1927, had closed their activities in 1937. This research is based on the identification and analysis of the first tiles produced in Brazil by the Santa Catharina Factory, which were part of the architectural decorations of the buildings built in Sao Paulo to the celebration of the Centennial of the Brazilian Independence. Designed by Victor Dubugras, The Largo da Memoria (located in the city of Sao Paulo) and the buildings located in the "Paths of the Sea" road marked the beginning of Brazilian industrialization and the emergence of Neocolonial Movement in architecture of Sao Paulo. Studies of the first national patterns of decorative tiles approach a subject poorly researched by experts in tiled studies in Brazil, although in this case these tiles have represented not only an important milestone in the national industrialization, but also have demarcated the significant changes in architectural and decorative practices in the country in the early twentieth century; RESUMÈ: C'est durant la premiere decennie du XXe siecle que la premiere usine de porcelaine blanche fut implant& au Bresil. Elle fut le fruit de l'association entre l'aristocratie de Sao Paulo et l'italien Romeo Ranzini. L'usine produisait une quantite signifiante de porcelaine sur le territoire industriel de Sao Paulo. Ce fut egalement la premiere usine a produire des carreaux decoratifs qui sont aujourd'hui visibles dans l'architecture des batiments publics construit entre 1919 et 1922, pour la commemoration du centenaire de l'independance bresilienne. Connue sous le nom de Santa Catharina, cette usine fut inaugure en 1912. Elle fut construite par des émigrés Italiens, et utilisa pour la technologie allemande pour so production. En tant que resultat d'un certain nombre de questions economiques, politiques et sociales qui ont &butes durant le siecle precedent dans la ville de Sao Paulo, l'usine Santa Catharina a joue un role important dans le developpement industriel de la production de porcelaine blanche nationale et a ete utilise comme modele pour la construction de nouvelles usines de ceramique a Sao Paulo. Apres avoir ete achete par l'industrie Matarazzo en 1927, elle cessa ses activites en 1937. Cette recherche est basee sur l'identification et l'analyse des premiers carreaux decoratifs fabriques au Bresil par l'usine Santa Catharina, qui etait une partie des decorations architecturales des batiments construits a Sao Paulo pour la celebration du centenaire de l'Independance Bresilienne. Connue par Victor Dubugras, le "Largo da Memoria" (situe dans la ville de Sao Paulo), et les batiments situes sur le "Path of the Sea", ont marque le debut de l'industrialisation bresilienne et l'emergence d'un mouvement neocolonialiste dans l'architecture de Sao Paolo. L'etude des premiers modeles nationaux de carreaux decoratifs est un sujet peut etudie par les experts bresiliens, bien qu'ils furent un jalon importante pour l'industrialisation nationale. Its ont egalement entrains des changements importants dans les pratiques architecturales, et decoratives au sein du pays au XXe siecle. Mots-cles: Ceramique - carreaux decoratifs — L'usine Santa Catharina, Bresil - Production de carreaux; RIASSUNTO: Nel primo decennio del Novecento vide luce la prima fabbrica di ceramica di porcellana in Brasile. Frutto dell'associazione tra l'aristocrazia Paulista e l'italiano Romeo Ranzini, questa fabbrica fu responsabile della produzione di notevoli quantita di ceramica di porcellana mediante stampi industriali nella citta di San Paolo, Brasile. Fu anche la prima fabbrica a produrre azulejos che avrebbero poi fatto parte dell'architettura degli edifici pubblici costruiti tra it 1919 ed it 1922, per la commemorazione del Centenario dell'indipendenza Brasiliana. Conosciuta come Fabbrica di Santa Catharina, questa fu inaugurata nel 1913, con la partecipazione di immigrati italiani e con l'impiego di tecnologie tedesche per lo sviluppo delle sue prime attivita produttive. Risultato di una serie di cambiamenti economici, politici e sociali, che ebbero inizio nel secolo precedente nella citta di San Paolo, la Fabbrica di Santa Catharina svolse un ruolo importante nello sviluppo industriale per quanto riguarda la produzione di ceramica di porcellana nazionale e fu adottata come modello per la costruzione di nuove fabbriche a San Paolo. Successivamente, fu acquisita dalle industrie Matarazzo nel 1927, vedendo poi chiudersi le sue attivita nel 1937. Questa ricerca si basa sull'identificazione e l'analisi dei primi azulejos prodotti in Brasile dalla Fabbrica di Santa Catharina che fecero parte delle decorazioni architettoniche degli edifici costruiti a San Paolo per la commemorazione del Centenario dell'indipendenza Brasiliana. Progettati da Victor Dubugras, it Largo da Mem(Via (situato nella citta di San Paolo) e gli edifici che si trovano nei Caminhos do Mar marcarono l'inizio dell'industrializzazione brasiliana e la nascita del Movimento Neocolonial dell'architettura Paulista. Gli studi dei primi modelli di azulejos nazionali affrontano un argomento poco studiato dagli esperti in azulejaria in Brasile, nonostante rappresentino un importante avvenimento dell'industrializzazione nazionale, ma segnano anche i cambiamenti di significative pratiche architettoniche e decorative nel Paese nel primo Novecento. Parole chiave: Ceramica - porcellana - La fabbrica di Santa Catharina - Produzione di ceramica .

Non-invasive methodology for the identification of plastic pieces in museum environment – a novel approach

The preservation of modern and contemporary art and costume collections in museums requires a complete understanding of their constituent materials which are often synthetic or semi-synthetic polymers. An extraordinary amount of quality information can be gained from instrumental techniques, but some of them have the disadvantage of being destructive. This paper presents a new totally integrated non-invasive methodology, for the identification of polymers and their additives, on plastic artefacts in museums. NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) and in-situ FTIR-ATR (attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy) combination allowed the full characterization of the structure of thesematerials and correct identification of each one. The NMR technique applied to leached surface exudates identified unequivocally a great number of additives, exceeding the Py–GC–MS analysis of micro-fragments in number and efficiency. Additionally, in-situ FTIR-ATR provided exactly the same information of the destructive μ-FTIR about the polymer structure and confirmed the presence of some additives. Eight costume pieces (cosmetic boxes and purses), dating to the beginning of the 20th century and belonging to the Portuguese National Museum of Costume and Fashion, were correctly identified with this new integrated methodology, as beingmade of plastics derived fromcellulose acetate or cellulose nitrate polymers, contradicting the initial information that these pieces were made of Bakelite. The identification of a surprisingly large number of different additives forms an added value of this methodology and opens a perspective of a quick and better characterization of plastic artefacts in museum environments.

Technological characterization of molded islamic pottery from Iberian Peninsula

The thesis examines the technical aspects of unglazed molded ceramics from Mértola, in the context of Islamic archaeology of the Iberian Peninsula (Almohad period, end of 12th and the beginning of 13th century). Ceramics of the time period under discussion (12th – 13th century) are understudied, including in what concern to shaping and firing of ceramic vessels, the origin of raw materials used in ceramics and glazes, and decoration methods such as slip painting and/or colored glazes. Moreover, the use of archaeometry tools is rare. Along with providing a general picture of molded ceramic production in Mértola, this work provides a new dimension to the discipline of Islamic ceramic studies by the analytical tool used and demonstrating the importance of archaeological ceramics of the western peripheries to the understanding the production of ceramics and the transmission of knowledge and cultural traditions within the Islamic caliphate. The chemical and mineralogical characterization of 12th/13th century Almohad unglazed molded ware from Mértola was accomplished through multi – analytical approach combining SEM, Powder/uXRD and LA-ICP-MS methods. In this paper unglazed and glazed samples were analyzed but the attention was given to unglazed specimens, while the glazed samples were used for the comparison with the previous group in order to determine possible similarities or dissimilarities, thus providing enough data to discuss about technical aspects and potential provenance; Resumo: A tese debruça-se sobre os aspetos técnicos de cerâmica de molde não-vidrada de Mértola, no contexto da arqueologia islâmica da Península Ibérica (período Almóada, final de XII e início do século XIII). A cerâmica do período em discussão (séculos XII-XIII) é pouco estudada inclusive no que concerne ao fabrico e à cozedura, à de fonte de matérias-primas, na pasta ou nos esmaltes e aos métodos de decoração, como pintura, presença de engobes ou esmaltes. Além disso, o uso de ferramentas de Arqueometria é raro. Para fornecer uma visão geral da produção de cerâmica moldada em Mértola, este trabalho oferece uma nova dimensão para a disciplina de cerâmica islâmicas pelas ferramentas analíticas utilizadas. Demonstrando a importância da cerâmica arqueológica da periferia ocidental para a compreensão da produção cerâmica e a transmissão de conhecimentos e tradições culturais no califado islâmico. A caracterização mineralógica e química das cerâmicas de molde e não-vidrada, Almóada, dos séculos XII-XIII de Mértola foi realizada através de uma abordagem multi-analítica que combina métodos de SEM-EDS, uXRD e LA-ICP-MS. Neste trabalho, as cerâmicas vidradas e não-vidradas foram analisadas conjuntamente, dando mais atenção aos espécimes não vidrados. As amostras de cerâmicas vidradas foram utilizados para a comparação com o grupo anterior, a fim de determinar as possíveis semelhanças ou diferenças, proporcionando, assim, dados suficientes para discutir os aspetos técnicos e o potencial de proveniência das cerâmicas não vidradas