Suite of Three Victorian Graduated Naturalistic Majolica Jugs/Pitchers, c.1880

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Suite of three graduated Naturalistic Majolica Jugs or Pitchers, c.1880 Majolica Set of 3 graduated floral pitchers with mottled ground, moulded with flowers and leaves. Three naturalistic jugs of pinkish white flowers with yellow centres and buds with green leaves and stalks on a mottled brown ground. Moulded treetrunk or branch handles. Squared handles and spouts in the aesthetic style. Interiors glazed in lilacIndistinct painted marks to bases (+1, 1+, or +/- ?)Large jug: 6.75" (17cm) high. Two chips to spout. 670gMedium jug; 6.25" (16cm) high. Glaze rubbed on spout and handle, tiny chips to glaze on rim. 515gSmall jug; 5.5" (14cm) high. Glaze rubbed on spout. 440g Victorian Majolica was originated by Mintons Ltd, who exhibited it at the Great Exhibition of 1851 under the name Palissy ware. The debt to the eccentric 16th century potter Bernard Palissy is obvious from its naturalistic plant and animal motifs molded in relief and splashed with bold colour and clear glazes.Majolica is a type of soft earthenware ceramic formed with plaster of paris molds. The first base coat of glaze is lead-based and then brightly colored metal oxide glazes are applied on top. The ceramics then receive another firing. During the second firing, the glazes interact creating the rich colors majolica pieces carry so well. These colours, and the unusual and varied objects they decorate, attract collectors to this distinctive type of pottery with intensity. Many pieces of majolica had no identifying marks. Some of the most notable English majolica manufacturers are Minton, Wedgwood, Holdcroft and George Jones. Two of the most recognized American names are Griffin, Smith and Hill (pieces marked Etruscan) and Chesapeake Pottery. Mintons had for some time been making tin-glazed pottery (which is opaque, white and shiny and painted in colour) somewhat in the style of Renaissance Italian maiolica, which they called majolica ware, anglicizing the Italian maiolica.The Illustrated London News reported with approval of Minton's work at the Paris Exposition Universelle (1855) : "The collection of Palissy and Majolica ware, however, is that which appears to have created the greatest sensation among Parisian connoisseurs. The reader will remember that the main difference in these wares is that whereas the Palissy ware is coloured by a transparent glaze, Majolica ware contains the colour (opaque) in the material. The care and taste with which these manufactures have been brought by the Messrs. Minton to their present state of perfection, have been amply rewarded. Within a few days of the opening of the Exhibition all the specimens exhibited had been sold".Despite this reminder, the public came to call Minton's Palissy Ware majolica ware; Palissy ware dropped out of use and majolica stuck. In the 1880s, the curators of the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) tried to clear up the confusion by reviving the Italian pronunciation maiolica for Italian tin-glaze.Wedgwood began to manufacture majolica about ten years after Mintons. Wedgwood's glazes and modelling were denser and more formal than Minton's, but there were many pieces that displayed the naturalism and humour of Minton shapes. Wedgwood's majolica included cachepots, pitchers, candlesticks, cheese bells, umbrella stands, sardine boxes, plates in naturalistic patterns, bread trays, etc. In Wedgwood's familiar "greenware" the green glaze emphasises the low relief patterning, typically of basketwork and foliage.Majolica was influenced by the design of the old "Cauliflower" and "Pineapple" teapots made by Thomas Whieldon, Wedgwood and other 18th-century Staffordshire potters. Both English and American majolica potters reproduced the "Cauliflower" pattern and other raised fruit, vegetable, leaf, and berry patterns, with green, yellow, pink, brown, light blue and purple-blue glazes. There is also a teapot of yellow corn and green leaves, similar to the old Whieldon "Pineapple" teapots, and a teapot, pitch... read more

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