Description:
One of two English delft flower bricks decorated in blue and dark red, originally used to display flower arrangements. The exact use of these containers has been debated for many years. It has been suggested that these bricks could have served as quill holders and inkwells; however, the fact that they often occur in pairs would seem to undermine this theory. Most likely these vessels were used for the display of dried flowers since the containers show little evidence of holding water, exhibiting no mineral deposits. Flowers were commonly used room decorations in the 17th and 18th centuries, and were displayed in flower bricks, vases, pots, and bowls. Unfortunately, pictorial sources demonstrating the use of these objects are rare. Michael Archer has identified a chimney board in the Victoria and Albert Museum collection with a painted image of a bombé-shaped container filled with flowers. The dearth of flower bricks in any other media suggests that their manufacture may have been limited to delftware. This brick is a rectangular closed container with twenty round, small holes in the top, each surrounded by blue stylized leaves. The sides are decorated with an elaborate pagoda-like two-story building flanked by two arches and scrolling flowers in blue and red. The extremely large size and molded roping along the top rims makes these flower bricks unusual. A flower brick of similar size with roping, attributed to London, is in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum.
Tags:
pagodas Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+66.189 |
