Description:
English white salt-glazed stoneware, press-molded circular plate with a wavy edge decorated in green, yellow, pink and orange. The rim is decorated with raised flowers and leaves in green, yellow, pink and orange; the curvature has an alternating pattern of floral lozenges and green trellis; and the well has a large pink and green framed mirror-monogram with the initials "T H" in gilt script over a brightly painted pastoral landscape scene of two well-dressed lovers with the woman in front and holding up her right arm while leaning against the man who is holding out his right arm as they are sitting next to a tree stump; they are by the side of a river with a sailboat and large cathedral-like building on the right. Stylistically, such scenes resemble some depicted in Continental artwork such as done by Watteau (1684-1721) or Nicolas Lancret (1690-1743). According to Leslie Grigsby, these pair of lovers may be the characters of Polly Peacham and Macheath from the Beggar's Opera. As of yet, no direct design source has been identified. Many exampes of variations of this plate survive, with examples in Chipstone Collection, Winterthur Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, British Museum, and City Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, England. These plates have the same border and monogram as Historic Deerfield's example, but have variations of the scene in the well. They originally may have formed part of the same service; or alternatively, based on the indecipherableness of the monogram, the pieces may have been made for a middle class market, members of which hoped to imply their wealth and sophistication by owning monogrammed services, while avoiding the cost of special orders.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+55.230 |
