Description:
English delft plate decorated with a marbled pattern in blue and purple on the rim and well, which resembles the colorful veining of cut and polished marble. This design was inspired by Chinese porcelain decorations depicting cracked ice, where cracked ice patterns symbolized the coming of spring, or stonewalls. Cracked ice and marbled decoration is found on English delftware plates, punch bowls, tiles, and figures, reflecting the interest in the natural world that became a hallmark of fashionable English life in the eighteenth century. Vast collections of animal, vegetable, and mineral specimens were gathered and displayed at country houses as mini-museums or "cabinet of curiosities.". The rococo style's reliance on nature for inspiration yielded numerous ceramics that attempted to appear like stone, as English potters responded to this interest in the naturalism. Agate ware, basalt, and creamware and salt-glazed stoneware decorated with fossil designs, derived their appearance from naturally occurring stones. An identical plate to this example is located in the National Museums at Merseyside in Liverpool; and a similarly decorated punch bowl is in the Winterthur Museum collection, Acc. No. 56.38.76
Subjects:
Pottery; glaze (coating by location) Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+65.063 |
