Nisa - Stone Pottery

It is the richness of the stone decoration on Nisa's dishes that gives it shine and specificity. Currently, three potteries still work daily, using a mixture of more consistent clay, white, and black, softer, thus facilitating the handling of the paste that they model entirely on the wheel. The piece, after drying, is painted with red clay from the Portalegre area. After applying this paint, the shine is removed only with a hand wet in water and only then follows the detailed decoration operation, carried out by women. The design is previously traced onto the piece, using household instruments, such as a sewing needle or other equally rudimentary instruments, such as soft drink caps or light bulb sockets.

The quartz fragments are placed in these scratches and incisions, with the help of the thumb and with the sharpest side facing downwards. This prevents the user from getting hurt and has the ability to better embed themselves in the clay. The quartz is previously fired in the oven, so that it breaks more easily and becomes whiter.

Once decorated, the dishes are ready to be cooked. The pieces made were essentially water containers or decorative. Pots, plates and chantries are also made. Today the pots are less bulging and more rounded than in the past, which is more practical for the potter and allows him to save some time.

Pottery was an apprenticeship that was normally done from parents to children. The women were stonemasons, the job of those who finish the pieces that the potter makes on the wheel. Decorating and beautifying the dishes, with those very fine, shiny white stones, has always been a women's job. As in all the places where pottery was manufactured, also in Nisa, there were many and "the work wasn't even enough for everyone". Currently the pottery continues to be sold, with other functions, obviously, because no one will sell water to the railway station, as it used to be.

 There were no plastics yet and people bought bottles and water at the train station. Then the fame of Nisa pottery spread throughout the world, says one of the potters. It is in the workshop that the clay and stones that will be embedded in the dishes are prepared, however, to collect the clay, the local government provides a lot of help, providing the excavator and transport. The stones, still large, are placed in the oven where, with the temperature, they become more flexible and less rigid. Then they are placed on the ground, finely broken and sieved. The more decorated the piece, the more value it has and the difference between first-quality and second-quality paving is distinguished. The first one "is very, very small and very elaborate" and is normally only made to order.

The same goes for less common pieces, such as the fish-shaped jug and the pig. The result is always a work where the contrast of the bright white with the dullness of the clay stands out.

Text Source: Text taken and slightly altered from the book "Tesouros do Artesanato" by Teresa Perdigão and Nuno Calvet - Verbo