According to Simões (1980), the main characteristics that distinguished Portuguese tiles in the first 25 years of the 17th century were monumentality, suitability for architecture and modernity.

Portuguese tiles arrived in Brazil at the same time as the other arts, following the same process of acculturation as in Portugal.

In other words, the same tastes, techniques and materials were brought from Portugal to Brazil.

During the 17th century, tiling developed in both countries and reached a high level of decoration.

In Brazil, tiles with polychrome patterns, forming carpets framed by borders, did not reach the monumentality of the Portuguese examples, but were well represented in Pernambuco and Bahia.

Tastes, fashions, customs, in short, almost everything that the court produced was brought to the colony at the same time.

The same happened with tiles.

At the end of the 17th century, Italian-style polychrome ceramics lost out to the novelty of blue porcelain, imported from China and then copied in Holland, England and Italy itself.

See Evolution and History of the Plastic Arts in the Northeast and History and Chronology of Portuguese Tiles.

Videos on the history of the introduction of Portuguese tiles in Brazil

Portuguese tiles began to reproduce the old polychrome patterns in two shades of blue.

The best examples of this genre were sent to Brazil, such as the blue-patterned tiles that decorated the interior of the Church of Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres in Montes Guararapes, Pernambuco (SIMÕES, 1980).

Technically, the change to blue monochrome meant a simplification of the production process.

The use of cobalt, which produced the blues, was easier than other colours, and it behaved better during firing.

At the end of the 17th century there were both polychrome and monochrome tiles, but the latter became more popular.

During this century, the tiles most commonly used in the interiors of temples and aristocratic houses were large carpet compositions, created by repeating the polychrome pattern (element).

Both patterns with four tiles (2×2) and patterns with sixteen (4×4) to thirty-six (6×6) tiles were used.

Patterns were defined by the module of repetition. For example, a 2×2/1 pattern meant repeating four tiles in an element.

To cover larger areas, more complex repetition patterns were created and used, such as 4×4/2, 4×4/3, 4×4/4, 6×6/8 up to 12×12/14.

The carpets were then bordered by friezes (rectangular fractions of tiles), borders (whole tiles) or bars (two overlapping tiles). These accessory elements of the carpet had their own corners to give ornamental continuity to the connecting angles (SIMÕES, 1980).

Bardi (1980) explains that the tapestry could also be figurative, in which case the square card was prepared and the artists transferred the design to the tiles.

Figurative themes included the lives of saints, scenes of mercy, civil, maritime and mythological subjects, and episodes from domestic life.

During the Dutch occupation of Pernambuco (1630 to 1654), tiles were brought from Holland for the palaces built during the reign of Prince Nassau.

In general, the tiles had a central figure within a frieze or simply a popular figure, and the corners contained drawings of spiders, Chinese labyrinths, ox heads or fleur-de-lis.

The pieces were not as well finished as the Portuguese ones and were smaller in size (CAVALCANTI, 2002).

It is interesting to note that already in this century (17th), in Setúbal, Portugal, the parietal tiles began to show a concern for scale.

When the tile was closer to the eye, the chessboard was smaller.

In the higher part of the panel, the scale of the chequerboard was increased to compensate for the distance.

The composition was reminiscent of carpets and bars, and there was an attempt to follow existing forms, such as a staircase (ALCÂNTARA, 2001).

In the 18th century, the Marquis of Pombal, Prime Minister of King John VI, implemented a programme for the industrialisation of manufacturing in Portugal.

The Loiça do Rato factory was created, which simplified the existing tile patterns.

The products were made in series using artisanal techniques, which increased production and made the price of tiles more accessible to a wider public (ALCÂNTARA, 1997).

According to Simões (1965), the 18th century was also a period of artisanal techniques, in which some Portuguese masters of tile painting stood out.

They were the so-called “artist painters”, who used the tile with the intention of creating a work of art, and generally painted large figurative and signed compositions, establishing the genre of monumental painting, which was also widely used in Brazil.

The author goes on to say that the 18th century, a period of great export of Portuguese products to Brazil, was the century in which Brazil became Portugal’s main supplier.

The presence of Portuguese tiles in Brazil was very significant, both in terms of quantity and quality, where the use of cobalt blue on white backgrounds continued.

“It can truly be said that the kingdom returned to Brazil in enamelled clay part of the gold and stones it received from there, and if the gold has long since disappeared from the statecoffers, it is forever represented in the monuments, carvings, images, tools, vestments, silverware and?in the tiles that, on both sides of the Atlantic, confirm the magnanimous presence of King João V and his glorious era!”. (SIMÕES, 1965, p.29).

Still according to Simões (1965 and 1980), it was during this period that tiles were definitively linked to architecture, becoming indispensable for the decoration of temples and mansions, commissioned with the same care and demands both in the kingdom and in the colony.

The tile, which was becoming indispensable as a decorative element, found other reasons for its wide acceptance in Brazil.

The scarcity of materials for external façade finishes, combined with the hot and humid climate of the Brazilian coast, which made conservation and waterproofing difficult, may have led builders of the century to use the more economical tile (due to its durability) to decorate and also ensure the good conservation of church façades and the land in front of and/or around churches.

This was the beginning of the ‘façade tile’ in Brazil, which was unknown in Portugal.

Simões (1980) reports that the 18th century was the period in which tiles became established and ‘nationalised’, i.e. the use of tiles in architecture was confirmed as a normal and typically Brazilian trend.

The tile began to be used with representations of figurative themes and, reduced to monochrome, lost its decorative quality.

However, it soon regained its importance thanks to the quality of the materials used and the care taken in painting. The religious orders, especially the Capuchin friars, preserved the greatest artistic wealth of the period.

Numerous Brazilian convents, hospitals and missions were richly decorated with Portuguese tiles.

In addition to the production of figurative panels designed and executed for specific places, Portugal also produced the so-called ‘ornamental tiles’, which were produced in series for simpler decorations and could be bought by the unit, dozen or hundred.

Independent of specific places, they allowed for different combinations and were more affordable, being used in secondary rooms such as corridors, small living rooms and kitchens.

Within this type of ornamental tiles, there are the so-called ‘single figure’ tiles, where each tile contains an independent motif with simple designs and a certain naivety, painted in blue, with themes of flowers, birds, animals, human figures or boats.

They were produced in Portugal and became the “popular” tiles, always graceful, but there are not many examples to be found in Brazil.

Another type of serial tile was the one with panels of floral vases, the so-called “azulejos de vasos”, more common in Brazil, almost always framed by figures of mermaids, dolphins, little angels or baroque volutes (SIMÕES, 1965).

During the 18th century, there was a great variety of styles in the design and painting of tiles, reflecting contemporary fashions and tastes.

Santos Simões in Azulejaria Portuguesa no Brasil divided the 18th century into four pictorially distinct periods: the Era of the Masters (1700-1725); the Era of the Anonymous Workshops (1725-1755); the Pombaline Era (1755-1780); and the Era of Queen Maria I (1780-1808).

Cavalcanti (2002) used the same chronological division to show the different types of design characteristic of each period.

In the second half of the 18th century, with the Rococo, dissymmetry and arrhythmia became predominant, with the return of polychromy in arrangements of shell mouldings in shades of yellow, green, purple and blue.

During the 19th century, a number of historical events disrupted Brazil’s relations with Portugal.

In 1808, the court of King João VI arrived in Brazil and Brazilian ports were opened to international trade.

Portugal, ravaged by wars and lacking resources, was no longer the centre of supply and with the ease of trade, Brazil began to import tiles from other countries such as Holland, England, France, Belgium, Germany and Spain.

However, the products from these countries were different from those from Portugal. According to Cavalcanti (2002), the tiles from these countries had industrialised characteristics such as thin paste, small and standardised dimensions, smooth glaze, reduced thickness of the biscuit and also stamped or decal decoration.

Brazilian builders used tiles to cover and protect the facades of their buildings. In fact, there is some controversy among scholars about this creation or innovation of using tiles on facades.

The Portuguese historian Santos Simões categorically states that it was a Brazilian invention, while the Brazilian specialists Dora Alcântara and Mário Barata attribute it to Portugal.

As well as embellishing facades, the tile had the practical function of protecting against the humidity typical of our tropical climate, which was exacerbated by the salinity of coastal and river towns.

The tiles waterproofed and insulated the exterior, ensuring better and longer preservation. The cities with the most tiled façades were those with geographical characteristics such as Belém, São Luiz, Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre and Recife (CAVALCANTI, 2002).

The author reveals some information that could confirm the beginning of the use of tiles in civil architecture.

The first news of the arrival of a shipment of tiles was published in the Diário de Pernambuco in 1837. The article reported that 1,400 tiles had arrived on a Spanish ship from Rio de Janeiro.

It doesn’t say where the ship came from, probably Portugal, where all the first tiles came from.

Other reports published in the following years, 1838, 1839 and 1840, already mention ships coming from Lisbon carrying crates of tiles from Portugal.

With regard to the use of tiles in façade cladding, Alcântara (2001) continues to question whether this was a Brazilian invention. According to him, this practice was established simultaneously in Brazil and Portugal.

In both countries, there is documentation and examples of tiles covering the ends of bell towers from the 16th century; in Portugal, there are also tile-covered garden benches and tile-covered garden facades from the same century.

The author notes that in Portugal, after the liberal revolution and with the rise of the bourgeoisie, tiles were chosen by this social group, which did not have refined aesthetic tastes according to the standards of the time.

Semi-industrialised tiles met the needs of this emerging class. Since the townhouses were semi-detached, there was only one visible façade, the front, where the tiles were of course laid.

The phenomenon was similar in Brazil. The country became an empire and there was a need to enrich its simple architecture.

The Portuguese who lived in Brazil and returned to Portugal built their “Brazilian houses” with the new taste or fashion – façades covered with tiles – observes Simões (1965), confirming and defending his idea that this is how the use of tiles on façades spread in Portugal.

As soon as order was restored in Portugal and trade relations with Imperial Brazil were re-established, Portuguese tiles regained their lost position and soon overtook foreign tiles.

Between 1860 and 1918, Portuguese tile factories once again supplied Brazil.

The manufacturing process used at that time was semi-industrial stamping, which was the most common.

It consisted of a mould, usually made of metal, on which the motifs were cut out and applied to the ceramic piece, after which the craftsman coloured the free space with a brush.

For polychrome designs, a mould was made for each colour. In this process many pieces came out defective, but they were still used.

The technique used before embossing involved drawing the design on a piece of card and perforating it. The card was then placed on the tile and a very fine charcoal powder was passed through the holes, marking the outline of the drawing on the tile.

The tiler then used a brush to outline these contours, completing the figure. The stencil allowed the reproduction of smaller, more detailed designs (ALCANTARA, 2001).

The production of painted and glazed tiles was not successful in Brazil until the 19th century.

The first Brazilian factory was established in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, around 1861 and was called Survillo & Cia. During the 19th century, not only Portuguese tiles, but also tiles from other countries, such as France, were widely used in Brazil.

These two countries produced tiles with some peculiarities or differences.

Cavalcanti (2002) documented the differences between Portuguese and French tiles found in Pernambuco in the 19th century.

In terms of size, the Portuguese tiles were 13×13 and 14×14 centimetres, while the French were 10.5×10.5 and 11.5×11.5 centimetres.

When it came to blue and white, the Portuguese had a sharper blue design on a white background than the French (who had a smoky blue around the design).

Portuguese tiles were often divided into 2×2 and 4×4 modules, while French tiles had the pattern on the tile itself.

The author also emphasises that Portuguese tiles were surrounded by friezes (half of the tile) with the same or a similar pattern, forming gaps and marking the lower bar.

French tiles didn’t use friezes; they rarely had borders, which were tiles of the same size as the main tiles, but with a different pattern.

Still on the subject of French tile patterns, Alcântara (2001) refers to a factory in Dèsvres, in the north of France, which specialised in crockery and later also in tiles; it was common for factories to have this dual function.

The raw material for this factory came from the River Plate, and with the interest in tiles from the coastal cities of South America, the factory began to produce them for use as ballast in ships.

At the end of the voyage, the tiles were sold.

The author reveals a French decoration technique in which the design was engraved on a metal plate, transferred to paper by chemical action, then placed on the tin base of the tile and taken to the oven, where the paper was burnt or dissolved, leaving the printed design.

With this technique, the motifs could be much more elaborate and the images had a characteristic pigmentation, the dots typical of some prints.

Returning to the tiled façades, according to Alcântara (2001), São Luis, the capital of Maranhão, has the most interesting set of tiled façades, although Belém has a larger set, despite many losses.

With the rubber boom in the Amazon, both São Luiz and Belém were capitals of the state of Grão Pará.

São Luis grew rich in the first phase. At the end of the 19th century and into the 20th, Maranhão’s economy declined and the rubber boom began in the Amazon. Belém went through a period of enrichment, which is also documented by its tiles.

Manaus was also enriched during this period, as evidenced by its tiled townhouses.

Regarding the arrangement of the tiles, the author notes that in many Brazilian cities there is an imaginative composition with several patterns on the same façade.

In São Luiz, however, the pattern is unique to each façade.

In this city, it is common to find the lower parts of the walls painted in darker colours to protect the wall from rain splashes in the unpaved streets, a habit that has been maintained even when it is unnecessary.

In São Luiz, there were examples of the lower part of the façades being covered with tiles with different patterns, or with the same pattern but in a different arrangement.

The author also reports that several other Brazilian cities had tiled facades.

In Rio de Janeiro, few traces of tiled facades remain, perhaps due to the very rapid transformations. Salvador also had a number of tiled façades, but what remains today is not very significant.

Recife, Olinda, Paranaguá, Porto Alegre and even inland cities such as Sobral in Ceará and the Vale do Jaguaribe have tiled facades.

The presence of tiles, sometimes of the same pattern, has been noted in distant cities throughout Brazil.

The use of tiles on facades is widespread in Brazil, but much more concentrated in Portugal. It’s a shame that we are losing so much of our cultural heritage.

Tiled facades in Brazil have not been preserved as they deserve. They are disappearing.

Tiles are not only a decorative material, they are also documents of this long process of consolidating our culture.

The First Sanitary Code of 1894 refers to kitchens and bathrooms with waterproof bars 1.50 metres high. The text suggests that houses should be dry, ventilated, illuminated and easy to clean (LEMOS, 1999).

Alcântara (1980) identified problems with the architectural scale of external façade tiles.

With the tendency for buildings to grow vertically, tiles lost their decorative function as the motif, which should have been small, disappeared when too far away from the viewer, demonstrating a lack of care for architectural scale in the application of tiles.

With the ease of copying models and importing foreign matrices, tiles lost their exclusivity.

At the same time, this loss of attributes led to the gradual disappearance of external tiling for decorative purposes.

The use of tiles was then restricted to internal service areas, such as kitchens and bathrooms, with a purely utilitarian function.

The loss of the traditional attributes of Portuguese tiles, such as their permanent modernity, striking individuality and suitability to the architectural scale, coincided with the gradual disappearance of decorative façade tiles in both Portugal and Brazil, concludes Alcântara (1980).

The history of tiles in Brazilian culture

Tiles on Rua Portugal in São Luís do Maranhão

A rua Portugal é a mais azulejada do Brasil

There’s Rua Portugal in São Luís do Maranhão, which has the largest number of tiles on the facades of historic mansions in Brazil and Latin America.

Casa do Maranhão is also a great place to learn more about the cultural manifestations, history and geographical aspects of the state.

The history behind the Portuguese tile

The Portuguese tile is one of the symbols of Portuguese culture.

Museu Nacional do Azulejo • Lisboa • Portugal

It took root in the Iberian Peninsula towards the end of the 15th century.

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