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The founding of the Royal Earthenware and Porcelain Factory

L'Alcora, L'Alcalatén, Castellón

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The founding of the Royal Earthenware and Porcelain Factory

Historical milestone · L'Alcora, L'Alcalatén, Castellón

Image of L'Alcora, not of the place itself.

The 9th Count of Aranda, Pedro de Alcántara Abarca de Bolea — father of the future enlightened Count of Aranda who would serve Charles III and Charles IV —, set up a manufactory in the town in 1727 with masters brought from France, which produced fine earthenware for the European courts and was the first industrial ceramics factory in the province of Castellón; it closed in 1895. He hired the town's twenty-four potters and three French masters, Joseph Olérys, Eduard Roux and Sebastián Carbonell, to imitate the tableware of Moustiers. Local red clay, the "potters' earth," was used at first, later replaced by another from the hill of San Cristóbal, with which a pink earthenware with a crackled glaze was obtained. The know-how formed there transformed the district's economy forever.

1727

Photo: 19Tarrestnom65 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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