Description:
English pearlware oval dish with a molded shell-edged rim outlined with a hand-painted green band (green shell edge, pattern #83, done under the glaze) and fluted sides, transfer printed in black and enamelled in bright green with a pattern of shells and seaweed, which is impressed "WEDGWOOD" and "C" on the back. As a result of the almost constant lack of highly skilled painters and the competition for their services, around 1770 Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1785) thought to combine printing and enamelling by using printed outlines for the guidance of less skilled painters. This was a difficult process, for which Guy Green of Liverpool in 1776 produced what appear to be the first 'print and enamel' patterns in the form of shells and seaweed, or flowers, printed in dark brown often mistaken for black and colored with a bright green enamel wash. Although not copied exactly, these designs are similar in drawing style and format to the shell/seaweed groups illustrated on Plates 26-27 in the 1762 edition of the "Ladies Amusement," indicating a common pool of design sources. First published by the London print dealer and map seller, Robert Sayer (1725-1794) in 1759-1760, "The Ladies Amusement; or, Whole Art of Japanning Made Easy. / Illustrated in upwards of Fifteen-Hundred different Designs on Two Hundred Copper Plates; ... Drawn By Pillement and other Masters, and excellently Engraved. To which is added, in Letter-Press, The most approved Methods of Japanning, from the Preparation of the Subject to be decorated, to its being finished: with Directions for the due Choice of Composition, Colours, &c. &c...." was an important design source used by contemporary artist-designers and skilled craftsmen for the decoration of not only of Japanned wares, but for enamels, ceramics, furniture, textiles, tapestries, carpets, silver, etc. A second edition was published in 1762 and a third around 1775. From the Transferware Collectors Club database: "this pattern is called "Conchology" and is printed in brown and enamelled in green. According to Robin Reilly, (1995), p. 118, "Conchology is the study of shells. The collecting of exotic shells was a fashionable 18th-century pursuit, and Josiah Wedgwood was an avid shell collector." Shell forms and patterns thus were used by Wedgwood in the late 18th century through the 19th century. This pattern dates from c. 1785-1790. Robin Reilly (1995), p. 118 pictures a dessert service in this pattern, however the pictured pattern is pearlware rather than creamware. The border of the plate is molded in what is known as shell-edge. Reilly adds "The shell-edge shape was among the first of Queen's ware tableware shapes".
Label Text:
Exhibited in "Rococo: Celebrating 18th Century Design and Decoration" (2018-2019): Naturalistic forms and decoration were frequently integrated into English ceramic Rococo design, as illustrated by this group of pottery and porcelain. The Rococo's embrace of naturalism was certainly inspired by the ideals of the Enlightenment, and 18th-century intellectual movement that raised man's reason and scientific inquiry and discovery to new authoritative heights. Various publications, including the British Museum catalogue at the center of the case, highlighted natural discoveries and curiousities that were incorporated into ceramic forms, such as the adjacent sweetmeat stand with shell-shaped dishes. Several other ceramics in this case imitate the shape or appereance of natural stone or plants, such as the agate teapot and the cauliflower-shaped coffee pot. Some Deerfield residents were eager consumers of these new wares. For instance, in 1773, Paul Hawks purchased "1 Large agate tea pot" from Deerfield store owner John Williams (1751-1816)
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+75.203 |
