Buen Retiro ware

Buen Retiro ware, porcelain manufactured at the royal residence of Buen Retiro, outside Madrid, from 1760 to about 1808, by Capodimonte potters. When Charles III of Naples, who had founded Capodimonte in 1743, succeeded to the Spanish throne as Charles III, he removed his own potters, molds, models, and even materials to Buen Retiro, ensuring a continuation of the Neapolitan factory. Because the Bourbon fleur-de-lis remained the factory mark, it is difficult to distinguish the later Italian from the early Spanish ware, though inevitably the standards of Capodimonte were not long maintained. Two early tasks at the factory were to equip, at vast expense, entire Rococo porcelain rooms at the palace of Aranjuez, under the direction of Giuseppe Gricci, and at the palace in Madrid. There, among other achievements, were a porcelain clock, surmounted with figures, and vases more than 6 feet (1.8 m) tall, filled with porcelain flowers. Other grandiose Buen Retiro work included ceilings and mirrors. In its less-flamboyant expressions, the porcelain is of great charm, with bright, soft colours, stippling, and gilt used to advantage; the style is a Spanish version of Louis XVI style.

Buen Retiro porcelain was reserved for the Spanish court until shortly before Charles III’s death in 1788. Under the management of Bartolomé Sureda, who in 1803 replaced the old soft porcelain with a hard paste of inferior quality, useful ware was more extensively manufactured. During the Peninsular War the French turned the factory into a fort in 1808, and it was destroyed by the British in 1812. In 1817, however, manufacture was resumed at La Moncloa and continued until 1850.