Description:
English delft, relief-molded "face" wall pocket highlighted in blue, yellow, red, and green. Flowers were commonly used room decorations in the 17th and 18th centuries, and were displayed in pockets, flower bricks, vases, pots, and bowls. Wall pockets, wall-mounted flower containers, first appeared in China during the 17th century, and reached their peak of popularity in mid-18th century England, produced in delft, salt and lead-glazed earthenware, and porcelain. The three basic shapes are faces, balusters, and cornucopia; sold in pairs, wall pockets were made in asymmetrical shapes with right and left-handed examples, as well as identical forms. Usually constructed of press-molded fronts joined to a flat, slab back, wall pockets invariably included a pair of holes to facilitate hanging. Because of the incorporation of a human visage or grotesque mask in the design, wall pockets like this example were known in the eighteenth century as "faces." Variations in decoration occur in this press-molded wall pocket; examples can be left in the white (without decoration), decorated with a blue powdered ground, and several examples feature Fazackerly colors. The colors of the pigments of this wall pocket form the basis of the Liverpool attribution. There are rococo C-scrolls at the corners of the opening; a female face in the center top framed with three floral sprays over her head and foliage scrolling up from below; over a satyr's face at the base. There are two holes on the back for hanging. Delftware wall pockets more commonly survive singly than in pairs. The color range used on the Deerfield pocket associates it with wares produced in Liverpool. Other decorative schemes include the pockets being left uncolored, having blue-painted motifs, or being coated in blue, usually with one or both masks left in white. Wall pockets of this form vary considerably in the detail of their shape and it seems that at least half a dozen different molds were used. Although archaeological evidence is lacking, related shapes also are thought to have been made in London. Dated wall pockets are rare and include none of this example. A twisted cornucopia pocket, painted in blue with floral sprays, is inscribed "17 IGI 48" on the back. Another pocket, also ornamented in blue, bears a relief dolphin, or "flying fox," mask above satyr's head and is inscribed "PM/1769" on the reverse. A similar example dated "1753" is in the John Bryan collection, see Marking Time: Objects, People, and their Lives, 1500-1800, p. 222.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+3134 |
