Glossary

The Portuguese words you will meet on labels, in museums and in workshops.

alicatado

A tile mosaic made of small shaped pieces cut from single-colour glazed tiles, from the Hispano-Moorish tradition.

aresta

A technique in which raised ridges pressed into the tile keep the coloured glazes apart.

azulejaria

The art, trade and body of work of azulejos.

azulejo

A glazed ceramic tile, used in Portugal and Spain on walls, floors, stairs and façades. The word is usually traced to Arabic.

barro

Clay.

chacota

Bisque: a piece after its first firing, hard and porous and ready to take glaze.

cobalto

Cobalt: the mineral pigment behind the classic blue of blue-and-white tiles.

corda seca

A technique in which a greasy line keeps different coloured glazes apart on the same tile.

cozedura

Firing: heating the clay in a kiln (forno).

faiança

Faïence: earthenware covered with an opaque white glaze, which can then be painted.

figurado

Small figures of people and animals modelled in clay, as in Barcelos and Estremoz.

louça

Crockery and tableware; louça preta is black pottery.

olaria

Pottery-making, or a pottery workshop. A potter is an oleiro.

padrão

A pattern: a design repeated across many tiles.

painel

A tile panel: many tiles forming one picture or composition.

pombalino

Relating to the Marquis of Pombal and the rebuilding of Lisbon after the 1755 earthquake.

porcelana

Porcelain: a hard, white, fine ceramic, as made by Vista Alegre.

roda

The potter’s wheel.

vidrado

Glaze: the glassy coating that melts onto a piece in the second firing.