Minstrel

Country: Spain

Manufactory: Lladro

Date of establishment: early 1950s

Size (cm): 42*16 

Porcelain Story

In the "City of Porcelain", located 20 kilometers from Valencia, we have been many times. In different years. Both with children and without children. It would seem that we studied all the technological processes of creating unique porcelain, which became famous all over the world thanks to the talent of the founding brothers of the famous Lladro manufactory - Juan, Jose and Vicente Lladro (or Lladro, as they say in Spain). We met with the brothers themselves, and with representatives of other generations of this extraordinary family - Rosa, David, Angeles. We got acquainted with outstanding artists, designers and sculptors. Including with the legendary Francisco Polope, who worked in the "City of Porcelain" for almost 50 years and during this time managed to create a whole gallery of unique porcelain compositions that are now stored in the largest museums in the world and in the finest private collections.

I talk about this in the past tense and with sadness. Because all this is no more. Well, maybe not everything, but a lot. And the main one. At the end of November, having arrived in Valencia, of course, we decided to visit the "City of Porcelain" with the children. We stopped by. We walked through the halls of the noticeably impoverished museum exhibition. We visited the workshops where the wizards of the unique “Lladro” flower arrangements still remained to work, but, alas, they could not feel the former spirit.

Naturally, we have heard about the changes that have taken place in the Valencian manufacture of late. And about the fact that the brand and the production itself were bought from the Lladro family by young enterprising businessmen who have embarked on a reorientation of the style of modern porcelain products. And that during this time (and, perhaps, to some extent in connection with this), the elder brothers Lladro, don Juan and don Jose, went into another world, and the younger representatives of the famous family retired. Yes, and many of the sculptors who made the glory of Spanish porcelain truly worldwide were dismissed. Including our esteemed Francisco Polope.

Having got acquainted with the new products of the manufactory, I honestly admit that I was somewhat upset by what I saw. Expensive interior items - bright, catchy, lurid, absolutely inanimate - become a kind of renewed calling card of the brand, which has always been famous for its stunning naturalness of forms, colors, plot porcelain stories, the tenderness of the finest details and the depth of emotions frozen in fragile porcelain. It seemed to me that this no longer exists. Gone. Gone like a sweet dream.

The new owners want to earn more and faster on a world-famous porcelain brand. And they can be understood. And, perhaps, they will even succeed in achieving their goal by releasing fashionable chandeliers and glossy faceless compositions with riders on horseback horses or large painted masks from children's cartoons. But it will all be “not right”. In any case, not what made the Lladro manufactory and its products unique.

We left the "City of Porcelain" this time with a slight amount of chagrin, generated by what we had just seen. And ... with great joy for the fact that we managed to see before, to know people who are unforgettable for us, to collect thousands of large compositions and individual figures, which in general were previously recognized as unique, but now they are certainly doomed to originality. Like, for example, this work presented to your attention. It is truly alive! Isn't it?..