Comillas, Cantabria, Spain

Ceramic Sunflower Frieze and Corbel Detail of El Capricho (Villa Quijano) by Antoni Gaudí

2061

Early Catalan Modernisme, Gaudí's Orientalist phase, 1883–1885

A decorative ceramic frieze and corbel bracket detail from the exterior façade of El Capricho (Villa Quijano) in Comillas, designed by Antoni Gaudí and constructed 1883–1885. The frieze consists of molded high-relief ceramic sunflower tile elements arranged in systematic horizontal bands that wrap across the brick masonry and over structural corbel brackets. Each sunflower features distinct cream-to-yellow petals radiating outward from a deep chocolate-brown textured seed center, set against vibrant turquoise-to-emerald green glazed leaf tiles. The three-dimensional projection of the molded petal heads creates intense physical relief depth and rich chiaroscuro under sunlight, as shadows pool within the petal crevices and around the seed disks. The frieze is among Gaudí's earliest deployments of ceramic as the primary decorative medium at architectural scale.