Description:
One of a pair of English delft ten-sided plates decorated with a blue waterscape scene, known as the 'island' pattern. The scene, which was a very popular pattern reminiscent of English water-colors, depicts European houses and trees in the background, a distinctive border in front of the houses, a Chinese man fishing from a bridge, semi-circular reed beds, and two figures in a skiff in the foreground. This pattern, for which dated examples are known for 1761 and 1767, is also found on plates with bianco-sopra-bianco decoration. The back is marked with a E-like figure; a plate with the same design in the Bristol City Museum (N.5489) has the same 'E' on the back. From 1750-1770, Bristol deft painters produced a variety of landscape settings, usually featuring a pair of figures in the foreground with other recurring motifs - the tree bending slightly to the side with a spindly-double trunk and sponged foliage; block-like buildings; two men in a punt; a cone shaped tree. Although these motifs are assembled in much the same order, other elements can be added at will such as a sailing ship in the backgound or a fence in the foreground. Similar motifs had been used in London around 1700, but later designs show the influence of the Rococo and one based on French models rather than Dutch.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+66.130 |
