Oriental art at Peralada Castle

This past Tuesday, February 11, the new exhibition 'Collection of Oriental Art. The Legacy of a Patronage' was presented at the Castell Peralada Museum Library, which pays tribute to the collection of oriental art assembled by Damià Mateu i Bisa between 1864 and 1935, consisting of a set of 185 pieces, along with documentation and books that contextualize them.

Maribel González , director of the Peralada Castle Museum, together with Susana García , curator of the Peralada Castle Museum, shared with all attendees the story of this unknown collection, since it is not installed within the Museum's itinerary. According to Susana García, "each piece in this exhibition has its own story and there are some very curious ones" and stated that "the protagonist of this exhibition is Damià Mateu and, for the first time in 90 years, Peralada is showing part of his collection, which consists of approximately a thousand pieces". For her part, Maribel González highlighted that it had been possible to recover one of the "scattered" pieces that were part of one of the five parts of the collection divided between the brothers, through the purchase of it online from an antique dealer in Barcelona through an auction.

The official opening of this exhibition will take place on Saturday, February 15 at 12:30 pm at the Peralada Castle Library (entrance via Plaça del Carme) and its main event will be the conference entitled "The East Asian Art Collection at Peralada Castle. The Legacy of Damià Mateu", given by UAB doctor Helena Moreno, who specializes in oriental art.

The collection of oriental art is one of the most unknown of the artistic heritage of the Peralada Castle, as it is not installed within the Museum's itinerary. It should be remembered that Damià Mateu, recognized for his passion for collecting and his vision as a patron, began acquiring objects of oriental art from 1932 until the year of his death, 1935. His dedication and his desire to provide his hometown, Barcelona, with a museum of oriental art on a par with other European and American cities, led him to assemble an exceptional collection that was finally deposited in the Museum of Decorative Arts, in the Palau de Pedralbes, Barcelona.

The journey of the collection, from its conception to its consolidation in the Museum, is recounted through Mateu's personal correspondence. His letters, many handwritten or typed, detail descriptions of the pieces, purchase arguments and appreciations of the value of the works, which provides a fascinating thread on the formation of the collection. The exhibition includes a wide variety of pieces, predominantly of Chinese origin, but also includes Japanese and Southeast Asian art objects, including outstanding works of Khmer art, the Luohans (specifically, the collection consists of 16 woodcuts made on rice paper) and Fô lions from China, among others. Damià Mateu was one of the first, if not the first, to bring pieces of this caliber to Catalonia, which adds an incalculable historical value to this exhibition. With the commitment to continue expanding this collection of oriental art, the Suqué-Mateu family has recently acquired a 10th-century basalt stone Buddhist head.

The collections of the Peralada Castle Museum

The Convent del Carme houses the Peralada Castle Museum. The collections that make up it were created by Miquel Mateu Pla following the purchase of the Castle in 1923. As a bibliophile, he highlights the creation of a magnificent heritage library with more than 100,000 volumes, with exceptional collections such as the Cervantine collection, of which his 1,000 editions of El Quixote stand out, the 200 incunabula with relevant copies, such as Ptolemy's Cosmography or the Nuremberg Chronicle, and the more than 800 executions of nobility. Also noteworthy is the glass collection, made up of more than 2,500 pieces from Pharaonic Egypt to the 19th century, considered one of the best repertoires in the international arena made by a single person, and a vast collection of ceramics that complements and enriches the visual experience.

The collections of paintings and sculptures adorn the two 14th-century buildings, the church and the cloister. Artists such as Hans Memling, Petrus Christus II, Rubens, Sánchez Coello and Filippino Lippi are exhibited in the different rooms. These elements not only show the artistic wealth of the Castle, but also reflect the high level of care that the Suqué-Mateu family has maintained over the years. The collections of the Peralada Castle are a testament to the bourgeois collecting of the time, being one of the few examples in Catalonia of a private collection that remains in its original location.