THE TCC ENGLAND TOUR 2015: PART SIX - THE WEDGWOOD MUSEUM

Like all of the museums we visited on the Transferware Collectors Club ceramics tour of Britain, the Wedgwood Museum was filled with cases of extraordinary treasures.  It, along with most of the other museums we visited, also has an excellent exhibit online.   There was so much on display, that I thought I'd show you some of my favorite and familiar things.

I have known about Wedgwood since I was a little girl because of the color known as Wedgwood Blue.  My mother loved it so much that she carpeted the whole house in this color!  She also had a lot of Wedgwood Blue jasperware decorating the walls and inside the cupboards. She even wore Wedgwood jewelry.   Below are some of the Wedgwood Museum's jasperware items as well as examples of things my mother would have owned.

Wedgwood jasperware

Wedgwood Blue jasperware, ca. 1960

I have a small collection of creamware food molds.  Some are Wedgwood.  They are quite difficult to display, so I was happy to see the way it was done at the museum.

Wedgwood food mold display at the Wedgwood Museum.  Remember that you can make the photos bigger by clicking on them.

I was introduced to earthenware food molds by my friend Seymour Jurow.  He owned about 300 molds!  One of his Wedgwood molds is in the collection of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Wedgwood cheese mold, ca. 1790.

Here is another of Seymour's Wedgwood molds.  This is a creamware mold in a classical pattern.

Wedgwood creamware food mold, ca. 1790.

The Wedgwood mark on the back of the mold.

I  love Wedgwood month tiles. They were designed by Helen J. A. Miles in 1878.  I gave a month tile to each of my children.  They make excellent birthday presents.   My friend, Dora, gave a whole set to her daughter to put around the fireplace in her new home.  I have always loved that fireplace.  Below are a few of the month tiles on display at the Wedgwood Museum.

Wedgwood month 6 inch tiles/The tiles in the front were made into a planter.

The month patterns were so popular that they were made into both 6 inch tiles like the ones above and eight inch tiles with an added border.  They were also made into plates with various borders.
 

"June" 8 inch tile

Wedgwood 10 inch "June" plate

Wedgwood Water Lily is one of my favorite patterns. Sometimes the pattern, printed in brown, is known as Darwin Water Lily.  It was probably ordered by Robert Darwin for his wife Susannah Wedgwood.  They became the parents of Charles Darwin.  (Such a fortuitous mingling of brilliant families.)   I have written about the pattern in my blog post Wedgwood Water Lily.  

Water Lily pattern at the Wedgwood Museum

Darwin Water Lily

Wedgwood Water Lily

You might want to take a look at this pattern on the the excellent online collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.  Here is the museum's description of "The Water Lily" pattern from the "Darwin" service as well as the blue and white example.

I digress, so I shall continue with my main thesis.  I find it so enjoyable to see favorite and familiar things at museums.  For example, David and I saw a salad bowl that was exactly the same as the one he inherited from his grandmother.  It has a silver rim and sits on lobster feet.   It is either hideously jokey or sublimely beautiful.  It just depends on your viewpoint.

David and the lobster bowl.

Wedgwood Lobster bowls, ca. 1883-86.

Since this is a transferware blog, I thought I'd show you some of the lovely creamware at the museum.

Wedgwood printed creamware.

Also some  unprinted creamware.

Creamware

More creamware

One more thing.  Here is our lobster bowl filled with persimmons from our tree.

This is the sixth post in my series about the TCC 2015 England tour.  I have written about The Victoria And Albert Museum,  Keele Hall And The Raven Mason Collection,  The Potteries Museum And Art Gallery,  Spode,  and The Middleport Pottery.  There is more to come.