Wedgwood Wickerwork & Ribbon Pattern Green & Yellow Majolica Plate

Victorian

Circa 1862 / 1888 | England

An antique Wedgwood majolica plate moulded in low relief with a wickerwork pattern background and ribbon pattern edge produced in the mid to late nineteenth century. This plate returns to the best of early Wedgwood glazes, including green, yellow and tortoiseshell, that were first seen in Wedgwood’s early cauliflower and pineapple pieces of the eighteenth century. These colours again became popular during the emergence of the Aesthetic Movement which coincided with the craze for majolica among the Victorians (see The Gen). The sharply modelled pattern of the plate is reminiscent of design 44 Creamware Shapes which first appeared in Wedgwood’s 1774 Catalogue.

DIMENSIONS: Diameter 21 cm.

SIGNATURES, MARKINGS & INSCRIPTIONS: Impressed WEDGWOOD, date code S, U, and Q. September 1862 or September 1888.

CONDITION: The plate is in very good condition with wear consistent with an antique age and use. There is some light wear to the front of the plate and a faint hairline crack on the back approximately 5.5 cm. There is no evident restoration.

REFERENCES: For an example of a similarly modelled plate see the tureen plate stand at The Cleveland Museum of Art and oblong Wedgwood dish at the Met, Accession Number 07.233.36. 

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THE GEN

The green, yellow and brown lead-based glazes on Wedgwood’s eighteenth century moulded wares provided inspiration for majolica pieces made in the mid-nineteenth century. Moreover, the factory continued to use many of the shapes made in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in its own majolica production. “Wedgwood majolica of the 1860s and 1870s had brightly glazed blue, green, yellow or brown backgrounds with carefully modelled motifs.” (Majolica: A Complete History and Illustrated Survey, Marilyn G. Karmason with Joan B. Stacke, Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1989, p. 73)

“Wedgwood’s use of the green glaze at this time is of special importance to wares known as cauliflower and pineapple. Without the fine solid green which Wedgwood developed in the last months of the partnership, these wares could not have been made. The discovery of an equally essential yellow glaze is recorded 10th March 1760 as experiment 93: ‘A Tryal for yellow glaze,’ and experiment No. 100, probably in April of that year records: ‘Tryal for a full yellow Glaze’”. (Wedgwood, Wolf Mankowitz, B.T. Batsford Ltd, 1953, p. 30)

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