Phenomenal and Rare Collectible Hand Painted, Signed and dated Huge 15 1/2" from the famed Katherine Swift who was an accomplished artist, painter, ceramist, gallery owner and writer of international books.
This platter and/or wall hanging is in very nice vintage condition with no chips or cracks. Very substantial piece and quite heavy.

Please refer to all the photos for an accurate depiction of the item.


Katherine signed the back side of the platter with Estudio Destra and her signature.

There is a triangular wiring used to hang this magnificent piece that is removable if one chooses to display it other than by hanging.

Born in Dublin in 1956, Katherine was the first child of Patrick Swift (painter) and Oonagh Ryan (formerly married to Alexis Guedroitz with whom she had a daughter, Ania Guédroïtz). Her uncle was the artist and man of letters, John Ryan; her aunt the film actress Kathleen Ryan. Her father gave a portrait of the poet Patrick Kavanagh to the doctor, Michael Solomons, as a gift for delivering Katherine and the doctor subsequently bequeathed the portrait to the Dublin Writers Museum, where it can be seen today. Katherine had a bohemian upbringing moving between Dublin, London and the Algarve in southern Portugal. Katherine had shown a gift for drawing and painting from an early age. Her father taught and encouraged her. As a teenager she attended boarding school in England and later studied at Art College in Lisbon and London before moving back to the Algarve more permanently in 1982, when her father was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Katherine was an outstanding portraitist and landscape painter. Her portraits include David Wright and her father. She illustrated several books including a guide to Portuguese restaurants. Throughout her life she continuously painted the Algarve landscape. For some years her work was inspired by ancient Celtic and Iberian imagery, as can be seen in the Blue, Yellow, Green and brown wall hanging platter displayed here. Katherine had exhibitions in Dublin, London, and Algarve. She worked in a variety of media including oils, acrylics, ink, watercolour and ceramics.

Swift was involved with the pottery her father founded, Porches Pottery, from its inception. She showed an artistic flair from a young age and, as a child, would decorate ceramics. Swift, like her father, decorated free-hand. Following her father's death in 1983 she took over the management of Porches Pottery. At Porches she concentrated primarily on painting tile panels while also training Porches Pottery decorators in the free flowing style that is associated with Porches Pottery a producer of hand-painted pottery in the town of Porches, in the Algarve region of Portugal. The pottery was founded in 1968 by artists Patrick Swift and Lima de Freitas, in order to revive a traditional Algarve pottery industry that was rapidly dying out in favour of more modern techniques. Swift and de Freitas chose Porches for its history as a pottery centre, dating back for many centuries, and for its clay pits. Katherine Swift managed the pottery following her father's death in 1983 and left in the early 1990s to found Estudio Destra in Silves - which continues to operate as a ceramics workshop. Porches Pottery is still managed by the Swift family today. Porches Pottery's role in the revival of the regional craft of Portugal has been well documented and internationally recognised.