PANCRATIVS

PANCRATIVS is a ceramic vase for domestic use, handmade in stoneware and enamelled on the inside. Sustainable, recyclable and ecological.

Its design is inspired by the amazing and magical story of Saint Pancras that the popular imagination has been building generation after generation for centuries.

Pancrativs was a young Roman citizen born in Phrygia in the 13th century, converted to Christianity shortly before he was beheaded, as a result of his unwavering faith, at the age of 15. Despite his young age, miracles and ultra-earthly powers were attributed to him; in fact, his name in Greek literally means “he who holds all things” and also “he who has all power”. He is popularly linked to luck, prosperity and abundance and has therefore been baptised as the saint of fortune. The origin of this belief, so deeply rooted in the humblest classes who have always prayed to him to ask for the most basic things: health and work, is unknown. The reason may lie in the text of the book he carries on his left arm.

His iconography has remained practically unchanged since the 13th century. Pancratius is depicted as a very young man, almost a child, dressed as a Roman soldier, wearing a cape or tunic, legionary armour and sandals. His attributes are the palm (symbol of martyrdom), a sword representing his death, his right arm extended with the index finger pointing towards the sky and an open book on his left arm where we can read in Latin: + VENITE AD ME ET EGO DABO VOBIS OMNIA BONA (Come to me and I will give you all kinds of good things).

In homes and businesses, the image of Saint Pancras has always been accompanied by a vase containing the offering of parsley, a “magic plant” that attracts good fortune, protection, fertility and peace. It is also accompanied by a coin on the index finger of his right hand, which should be directed towards the inside of the shop or house to attract good.

The Pancrativs búcaro was born from this delirium of the popular Catholic-Mediterranean imaginary, which has permeated the popular heritage regardless of whether or not one is a believer. Its design includes all these popular attributes of the saint and, why not, even his powers. Its geometries respond to a golden composition based on the most representative iconographic elements of the saint’s image: its truncated cone-shaped body acts as a container and also as a support that reproduces the Latin text of his book, its head and crown are the mouth of the vase and its spout-shaped arm serves to channel the powerful liquid it contains inside and also to deposit the coin of fortune on it.

It is also a tribute to our past generations: their rites, myths, superstitions and particular contradictions, derived from a complex and austere life in most occasions. Capable of turning any image that attracts good luck and prosperity into a talisman.

* text, photographs and drawings: Narcís Díez Belmonte.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS / MATERIALS
material: stoneware, glazed inside
dimensions: 220 x 116 x 103 mm
empty weight: 500 g
capacity: 550 ml / 18.6 fl oz

design: Narcís Díez Belmonte
ceramics: Eugenia Boscá – ceramic technicians: Ángel Alfaro + Paco Roig

An original project by Eugenia Boscá and designer Narcís Díez Belmonte.
Finalist of the XVI International Biennial of Ceramics of Manises 2024, in the category of Product Design.