The Alcora manufactory was founded in 1727 by the 9th Count of Aranda on land he owned in what is now the province of Castellón. The aim was to create a luxury earthenware and porcelain factory that would compete with foreign manufactories. Royal privileges, including tax exemption on the export of pieces and the free entry of materials from abroad, allowed this manufactory to operate until the middle of the 19th century despite the fact that it barely made any profits.

Throughout its existence, the factory became a model of organisation and a point of reference in terms of aesthetics thanks to the recruitment of foreign specialists, artists and “secretists” who claimed to know the secret of porcelain manufacture. In addition, the creation of an apprentice academy enabled the manufactory to continue to provide top quality production.

This wall aquamanile belongs to the establishment’s second period (1749-1786), which began when Pedro Pablo, son of the 9th Count of Aranda, inherited the factory. The 10th Count was the Spanish ambassador in Paris and was in contact with the Encyclopaedists. His curiosity led him to search for the formula for porcelain, but he only managed to obtain a material that was similar to French soft paste and English pipe clay.

Aquamaniles used to be placed at the entrance to the dining room so that guests could wash their hands before and after meals. This one is incomplete, as the lid and wall mountings are missing.

Stylistically, the aquamanile features rocaille decoration, to great visual effect. Exuberant forms and ornamentation depicting classical buildings with arches and domes, pedestals, fountains and other architecture, scrolls, flowers and shell-derived motifs predominate, all in bright, lively polychrome. The handles and mouth of the piece are shaped like mascarons.

The central image depicts a monkey on a column carrying a banner. The latter is in the French fashion introduced by the French artist Christophe Huet (1700-1759) who, between 1735 and 1737, painted the Grande Singerie [Great Monkey Room] at the Château de Chantilly, where he showed for the first time apes doing men’s work and dressed like men. The rocaille also has French origins, having been invented by Juste Aurèle Meissonnier (1663-1750), a silversmith and goldsmith at the court of Louis XV. The ornamental ensemble is characteristic of the fine “andromic” series.