Escudelles and plates from Pòrtol

What is

The glazed clay tableware from the Marratxí olleries. The escudella is the hemispherical bowl for broth, soups or milk; the plat, the dish, with a name for each use. The most recognizable piece is the plat moreno: red paste with white engalba decoration.

How is

Escudelles (Coll Conesa 2020; DCVB):

• Hemispherical, generally glazed; same word for the small and the large (escudella gran).
• Escudella d'orelles — with horizontal handles on the edge, for individual use (Mall.).
• Escudella amb bec — with pourer.
• Midwife - with eight handles.
• De combregar — for the viaticum.
• Platerenca — go down.
• Moruna — yellow in color.
• De foc — made of refractory clay.

Plats (Coll Conesa 2020):

• Plat moreno — red paste decorated with white engalba.
• De foc (refractory), colander (hole), bottom, pla, de bollit (deep, to serve the stew to everyone), fruiter (somewhat smaller), d'olives (small, for accompaniments).
• Decoration of the brown plate: painted motifs; Some tourist sources say that certain designs come from the Arab period (please verify).

How is fa

1. Pòrtol mud, crushed and sifted (see torn-de-gerrer ).

2. Turn the plate or bowl.

3. Engalbar: paint with liquid white clay on the red paste (brown plat).

4. Glazing (traditionally lead glazing; current recipes to be verified).

5. Cook in a wood oven.

Com s'usa

• The escudella: broth, Majorcan soups, milk; Before, they ate from the same bowl in the houses of the country (general use, please verify).
• The plat de bollit in the center of the table for the stew; the d'olives to snack on.
• The midwife's bowl, with its handles, for the broth of the newly given birth (use deduced from the name, to be verified).

Vocabulary

• escudella — bowl, bowl.
• escudella d'orelles — bowl with handles (Mall.).
• plat moreno — red pasta dish with white engalba.
• engalba — colored liquid mud to decorate.
• plat de bollit — deep dish for serving the stew.
• fer s'escudella — in Mallorca and Menorca, command, impose one's will (DCVB).
• escudella (stew) — in Mallorca, legume stew (DCVB).

History

• 11th century: Mallorcan bowls of green and black earthenware, inserted in the façade of San Piero a Grado (Pisa) (Coll Conesa 2020).
• 1624: "a escudella de llet d'ametlla" for the preacher father of the convent of Sant Francesc de Paula in Palma (IV Jornades de Marratxí).
• 1970: Baltasar Coll remembers those from Pòrtol and Sa Cabaneta bringing plats and olles to the Llucmajor fair.
• Today: the brown plat is still on sale in the olleries of Pòrtol (seemallorca).

On veure'n

• Olleries de Pòrtol: Can Vent (the Coll Conesa catalog illustrates escudella d'orelles, plat and plat moreno with a photo of Can Vent, 2010), Can Bernadí , Cas Canonge .
• Fang Museum (Sa Cabaneta) · Fang Fair .
• Museum of Mallorca, Etnològica Section (Wall) .

Why is it design

• Precise typology: a name for each use, from the olive dish to the stew.
• Decoration with the same material: white clay on red clay, without imported pigments.
• From the fire to the table: escudella and plat de foc go directly from the ember to the plate.
• Talking handles: two ears for a person, eight for the woman in labor.

For the project

• Piece: contemporary plat moreno (engalba) tableware with a Pòrtol pot, with complete typology.
• Atlas: illustrated catalog of the escudelles with names, verified with the ollers.
• Trade: ceramics-i-gerreria . Files: greixonera , olla-cassola-i-perol .

Sources

• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=escudella
• contents.idi.es/images/documents/Catalogo_XII_Jornadas_Baleares_20.pdf
• seemallorca.com/portol
• marratxi.es/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Web-IV-Jornades.pdf
• illesbalears.travel/en/mallorca/the-route-of-pottery-in-portol

Working text from the Disseny Indígena knowledge base, machine-translated from Spanish.

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