{"product_id":"spanish-pottery-handpainted-plate","title":"Mid Century Puigdemont La Bisbal Catalan Pottery Charger with Hand Painted Fish in Orange and Blue","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eA big eyed fish swims through a swirl of seaweed on a ground of glowing orange, its fins streaming in blue and white, with two shells nestling in the shadow of a rock. This is a signed charger from the Puigdemont workshop of La Bisbal d'Empordà on the Costa Brava, and the fish is the design that made them famous. Turn it over and you find the name written across the back in a looping hand, along with the workshop monogram beside the foot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eThe Puigdemont family made pottery in La Bisbal from the 1950s to the 1970s, and this piece most likely dates from the 1960s, the peak of their fish period. They worked red earthenware on the wheel and decorated it freehand with thick, tactile glazes that sit proud of the surface. You can feel the seaweed under your fingers. The palette here is pure Mediterranean: burnt orange, olive green, cobalt, cream, painted with real speed and confidence so the fish looks as if it is actually moving. Pieces from the workshop have been climbing steadily with collectors of mid century Spanish and French Riviera ceramics, and the fish plates are the ones everyone wants.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eIt measures 35 cm across and 6 cm deep, which makes it a proper charger rather than a plate, and it is one of the larger sizes the workshop produced. The glaze is bright and glossy with the fine crazing you expect on earthenware of this age, and a few small glaze pops at the rim where the kiln had its say. It is sound, heavy and handsome, and the back is as characterful as the front, dripping with slip and glaze from the firing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eWe would hang it as a single statement on a white wall, where the orange does all the work, or lean it on a dresser against a stack of plain terracotta and creamware. It looks wonderful in a kitchen above the range, and in a hallway it gives you a jolt of Spanish sunshine every time you walk past. Filled with lemons on a table it is almost too much, in the best way.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eA signed, characteristic and unusually large example from one of the most sought after Catalan potteries of the mid century.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Blue Loft","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55032245911879,"sku":null,"price":48.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0850\/3921\/9015\/files\/32F961EA-672C-4C71-B720-9ED1C303901F.jpg?v=1789482684","url":"https:\/\/www.theblueloft.co.uk\/products\/spanish-pottery-handpainted-plate","provider":"The Blue Loft","version":"1.0","type":"link"}