Wedgwood Majolica Fish Head Plate

Victorian

Circa 1872 | England

An antique nineteenth century majolica fish head oyster or escargot plate by Wedgwood (see The Gen). A truly beautiful small plate glazed in Wedgwood’s exceptional majolica glazes with six unusual and fanciful fish head shaped wells around a central well.

DIMENSIONS: Diameter 18 cm.

SIGNATURES, MARKINGS & INSCRIPTIONS: Impressed Wedgwood IAA.

CONDITION: The plate is in excellent condition with wear consistent with antique age and use and some light crazing. There is no evident restoration.

REFERENCES: For examples of similar plates in this pattern from Wedgwood see Glazed & Confused blog. 

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THE GEN

“The company entered the majolica market in 1862. Wedgwood had struggled with a financial downturn in the 1850s which had made Francis Wedgwood resistant to exploring new ideas and developing new patterns or wares during that decade. However, with the introduction of his three sons into the firm in the 1860s, that attitude changed. His oldest son, Godfrey, is credited with the introduction of majolica, along with other new and innovative designs, into the Wedgwood production line.

In 1877, Llewellynn Jewett wrote on Wedgwood, ‘The aim of the firm is, always has been, to produce the best, most artistic, and most pleasingingly effective designs, and to adapt them to ordinary purposes, so that they may become the everyday surroundings of the artisan as well as the educated man of taste.’” (Collecting Oyster Plates, Jeffrey B. Snyder, Schiffer Publishing, 2002, p. 34)

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