Country Gardens – July 2019

54

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

1851. 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!”