What's new at the Museum of Ancient Art? 15 furniture with history

The office of the Azores has a preponderant place now that the Portuguese nationality has been confirmed. But there is also the paper dresser of the eighteenth century, which, having a secret and can not be opened all the time, comes with a tablet with a video that reveals the turn in the new presentation of the National Museum. Ancient Art [19659002] This is one of the new pieces that we can see in this museum that covers five centuries of Portuguese furniture history. "This is not a furniture story, it's a social story," says the director of the National Museum of Ancient Art.

The curator adds that it is a collection with "very good woods" and "when looking for a table or chair to say more than what it is. It illustrates the art to work, they are stories, they have a symbology, a history of everyday life.As we have lived through the ages, as a certain elite lived, reflects the conservative 19659004] Close

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"There is a new communication, new wall texts and comments developed that make the pieces speak", explains António Filipe Pimentel to DN about the news of the MNAA. Of the 190 pieces in this collection, 15 are new (and six of them have never been shown to the public). Go from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century and most came to the museum through convents, after the extinction of religious orders. But there are also recent acquisitions.

1. Small objects that show cosmopolitanism

Parts of various origins that people loved to surround and carried in chests in their travels, they are now in one of the windows of the MNAA at the sight of all visitors. "They show a cosmopolitanism and the taste for possessing objects of various origins" explains Conceição Borges de Sousa to DN. It draws attention to an illustrated rosary bead with a descent into the underworld and a climb to the skies that conservative MNAA recommends paying attention to. It was so important recently at an exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

2. Cadeira de Afonso V

From the 15th century and coming from the Convent of Varatojo, on the outskirts of Torres Vedras, the Afonso V D is one of the pieces that stands out in the new design of the exhibition. The chair, of national interest, appears in three well-known drawings, showing its original appearance before the restorations to which it was subjected "It is very rare, some thrones of this time arrive to our days", emphasized the conservator of the MNAA in Lusa.

3. Pharmacy pouches

Blue and white, these ceramic pieces are displayed next to the mortars. "They are very beautiful and have no presence," said the curator who found them a place.

4. The ark of leather

The ark is engraved leather end of the sixteenth century century and, according to Conceição Borges de Sousa, "very illustrative of Portugal of the time" . "For his period, it's an important piece," he told DN. They have survived little, because "over the years, they wear out". On this, on the wall an income of 1615.

5. Office of the Azores 16th century

This is a mandatory contemplative room , to trust the enthusiasm of Conceição Borges de Sousa for this office built in Angra do Heroísmo. "It was a halt, stopovers, armadas when they came from India," he remembers, recalling the descriptions of Gaspar Frutuoso of the Azores. "He speaks in 72 carpentry workshops," says curator MNNA. "A lot of it would be for export, but because it was a meeting place and good woods, they received a lot of influences. Until recently, by similarity to other copies of the genre, it was believed that the office was Spanish, which science came to deny. "The wood has been analyzed and is a wood of the Azores, reddish." I have been very satisfied with the lab tests, which are the most reliable for me.

6 – Renaissance Doors

Many of the pieces that arrived at the museum, were opened since 1884, After being shown in the exhibition that brought to the floors of the rooms that were in reserve, "I thought that they made sense in this new exhibition." Conceicao Borges de Sousa highlights the entrance to the Museum of Modern Art

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7. The chairs