The artisan is a young man who is determined to maintain the prestige and tradition of this black pottery of Molelos.
Part of the history of the black pottery comes from the time when the Moors ruled Portugal. The local potters, to tease the Moors when they where thirsty, made jars that they could not drink from because there was, and still is, a secret for getting the water through. Only the locals and the potters knew how to make the water come through. They are called secret jars.
Portuguese Black Pottery
Houses made with wood and cement and tiles. Yards with oranges, vegetables and vines. Streets not finished. The sound of barking dogs and chickens far away. A worker taking his wife in a wagon pulled by a donkey and a tractor being driven to the farm for another work day.
Daily life in the picturesque village of Molelos. Located in the Beira Alto, the central part of Portugal east of the Serra do Caramulo Mountains. The black pottery made here is the pride of the artisans who produce it and central to the local identity. Once there where over seventy potters making black pottery in Portugal, now there are fewer than a dozen, most located in Molelos.
After the pots come off the wheel they are smoothed using small stones, some of which have been handed down father to son for over 150 years. The pieces of pottery are then decorated before firing.
The firing is done using the reduction process. The pieces are placed in a wood fired kiln the temperature being slowly raised to 800 Celsius. Resinous pine bark and branches are then put in and the kiln closed. The result is a magnificent black pottery, sometimes with a silvery sheen, and a smooth deep finish very similar to the Etruscan Bucchero Ware of the 7 th to 5 th century BCE
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Go to our store and you can purchase these beautiful black pottery pieces from your home.
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