A ceramic tile panel, created by José António Jorge Pinto in 1918, on Rua Doutor Álvaro de Castro, in the Santos ao Rego neighborhood, is under consideration for classification due to its risk of destruction. This proposal was submitted by the Museus e Monumentos de Portugal (MMP) to the Minister of Culture, Youth, and Sports, Margarida Balseiro Lopes, based on a recommendation from the Museums, Conservation and Restoration, and Movable Cultural Heritage Section dated May 5 of this year.
Faced with the impending demolition of the building housing the panel, the classification as a movable asset of public interest is suggested. This classification is considered due to the panel’s rarity within Portuguese ceramic art and its significant cultural value at the national level, where its loss would present a serious blow to Portugal’s cultural heritage.
The document also features insights from the director of the National Tile Museum, João Pedro Monteiro, who deems this panel “one of the great pieces of Art Nouveau ceramics in Portugal.”
The tile panel depicts a young woman holding a Japanese fan against a honeycomb-like background, utilizing a technique reminiscent of photographic processes in ceramics. It is precisely this innovative aspect (for that era) that grants the panel its distinctive character, echoing images published in magazines like llustração Portuguesa, with no other known examples sharing this aesthetic.
