Country Gardens – July 2019

(lu) #1

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COUNTRY GARDENS // FA LL 2019


W


hen I was maybe 6 or 7 years old,
a single emerald green Wedgwood
cabbage-leaf plate stole my heart.
A gift to my mother, the plate was
displayed in a hutch alongside Mother’s china
and crystal where the vibrant color made it stand
apart from all else. How that plate beguiled me!
I wondered how a plate that looked like cabbage,
which was horrid-tasting to me, could be so
bewitching. I came to understand later that I was
one of many people smitten by the pottery decorated
with plants and flowers called majolica.
In the 14th century, colorful tin-glazed
earthenware imported from Spain to Italy became
known there as majolica because it was thought
to have originated from the island of Majorca.
A brilliant expression of Renaissance art, it was
expensive. The majolica most collectors know today
is the result of mass-production methods developed
in 19th-century England that made it widely
available to the public in England and America.
Victorian interest in majolica traces to the pottery’s
introduction by Mintons, a major ceramics company,
at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in London in


  1. Mintons pottery, which brightly mimicked
    organic forms such as flowers, leaves, fruit, animals,
    and shells, melded two prevailing social trends: a
    fascination with the natural world and a turning away
    from plain, unadorned table- and kitchenware such
    as ironstone. The result resonated with exhibition


Unmarked // probably American
Late 19th century

Unmarked // probably American
Late 19th century

Young women and schoolgirls, known as “majolica
girls,” were sent out to gather nature specimens as
inspiration for designers. From there, prototypes
were made, molds created, and samples fired for the
painters to follow. Sugar maple leaves make this a
uniquely American design; English tree leaf motifs
were more likely sycamore or chestnut.

Some mass-produced majolica can seem crude or
gaudy, but not all. This set of cabbage-leaf dessert
plates has a delicate palette and a fine scalloped
edge. Some authorities maintain that English majolica
was more refined than American, but for pieces
without a manufacturer’s mark on the back, it is
almost impossible to differentiate between the two.


Maple leaf

Cabbage leaf

9 "


6 ½"


PLATE


PLATE


ABOVE Rosemary Burgher displays much of her treasured
majolica collection on the shelves of a vintage sideboard.
She prefers the humble American-made majolica. “Some
pieces are very accessible and affordable,” Rosemary says.
“I still find pieces at the Salvation Army!”
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