A faïence jar with Chinoiseries decoration, Alcora 1735-60

This exceptional small polychrome jar is decorated with the typical Rococo motifs of Alcora's Chinoiseries period: oriental figures, animals, birds, insects and vegetable ornaments. The fantastic quality of the drawing and its rich polychromy belong doubtless with the best pieces ever made at the royal Manufacture of Alcora. The detailed and accurate strokes in such a small surface prove a virtuosity typical of the best painters working in this period at Alcora, such as Miguel Soliva, painter between 1727 and 1750, and possibly the author of this piece.

To be directly compared with two very similar pieces of identical size, conserved at the former Ceramics Museum of Barcelona (N.Inv. 100.069 y N.Inv.100.063), illustrated in "El esplendor de Alcora" (Ajuntament de Barcelona, Electa, 1994), ill.62, p.47.