SPIDER

Wolf Spider found in my garden on June 20, 2016

While gardening the other day, I chanced upon a large spider, a female with an egg sack, in the pot I planned to use.  I had David move her to safety (and I moved away safely).  I then wondered if there were many spiders printed on transferware.  Here are a few.

Maker unknown 6.6 inch tile features a large spider and web, ca, 1880.

Minton Hollins & Co. (1868-1962) "Little Miss Muffit" 6.6 inch tile, ca. 1880. 

Baker, Bevans & Irwin (1814-1838) 10 inch plate "The Ladies of Llangollen."  The border appears to have spider webs as part of the design.  Perhaps I was just desperate to show you another spider pattern!

Maya climbing on a spider web

I didn't find many spider patterns.  Perhaps you have some to show me.  Please!  You might want to read about the wolf spider (see the link above).  It's rather interesting.  I have lived in California since 1971, and this is the first time I have seen one.

ORLANDO

"The Commandments" 7 inch plate "Thou shalt do no murder" circa 1850

It is with great sadness that I write another post about murder.  Destructive behavior is part of being human, so I strongly want weapons designed for the military to be kept out of the hands of civilians.   I need not elaborate.  It's simple.

Boston

Paris: Friday 13, 2015

The Sixth Commandment on Transferware

EYEWARE AND TRANSFERWARE

June 6 is National Eyeware Day (also D Day).  There appears to be a special day for just about everything!  Eyeware Day gives me a chance to show you one of my favorite patterns.   It features a boy wearing glasses.  It was made by Enoch Wood & Sons (1818-1846) around 1825, and is known as "The Young Philosopher."

Enoch Wood & sons (181-1846) 10 inch soup plate known as The Young Philosopher, ca. 1825.

The boy, who is surrounded by toys, is reading a book.  I think his mother is asking him to go to bed.  Or, clean up his toys.  The lush border of passion flowers, roses and auriculas is shared by three other Enoch Wood patterns known collectively as The Cupid Series. 

Enoch Wood & Sons (1818-1846) 7.7 inch plate (also found in other sizes) known as Cupid Imprisoned, ca. 1825

Enoch Wood & Sons 10 inch soup plate known as Girl Behind Grape Fence or Psyche Behind Bars.

Enoch Wood & Sons 5.75 inch saucer known as The Bride.  She may be Psyche.

As you can see, the three plates above have a unifying theme;  longing and barriers.  They may even tell the story of Cupid and Psyche (this myth has lots of trials, longing, and barriers to love).  The Young Philosopher pattern (boy with glasses) only shares the border with the Cupid Series.  I doubt the mother and boy with glasses are Cupid and Venus.  By the way, did you notice that the stringing on the border of all four patterns looks like a chain?

If you like cupids, William Adams III (1804-1829) also made a Cupid Series.  Take a look at my post "Cupids For Valentine's Day."  I digress, as usual.  However, when you love transferware, one good pattern does lead to another.  Happy Eyeware Day!

JAPANESE DOLL

Japanese 14.75 inch silk-skinned doll with a painted face, ca. 1920.

 
This is a tale of two girls and a doll.  It begins on August 24, 1922 with the birth of the girls; one, Mary Rosenthal (my mother-in-law), the daughter of San Francisco natives, and the other,  Mamie Yoshida, the daughter of Japanese immigrants.  The families became friends, as they bonded over the babies, who were born on the same day in San Francisco.

Mamie received a silk-skinned doll from Japanese relatives as a baby gift.  It was nearly 15 inches high, clothed in silk, and protected by a large glass case.  It was never intended for play.  Instead, it was the object of both girls' admiration. 

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941,  Japanese Americans were forced out of their homes and relocated and incarcerated in camps.  Mamie and her family were among those interned, and they could not take much with them.  The Japanese doll was given to Mary.  Mary was in her twenties,  so her mother gave the doll to a much younger cousin.  Seventy-five years later, in April 2016,  Mary's cousin returned the doll.  She was moving to a retirement home, and couldn't take the doll with her.  You may wonder why the doll wasn't returned to Mamie after the war.  She died of leukemia in one of the Internment Camps in Manzanar, California. 

As this is a transferware blog, I thought I'd show you Aesthetic Japonesque patterns made during the late 19th century.   Japanese design was extremely popular in America and Europe.  Just not the Japanese people.

Maw & Co. (1852-1969) 6 inch tile with a geisha girl subject, ca. 1880.

Burgess & Leigh (1862-1999) 8 inch tray "The Geisha," ca. 1898.

Burgess & Leigh (1862-1999) "The Geisha" teapot.  It is part of the series seen above.  Remember to click on the patterns to make them bigger.

A close-up of the doll's lovely face

Mary on a walk in 2016 with David and Dogozshi

LIONS ON TRANSFERWARE

Enoch Wood & Sons (1818-1846) 20 inch platter from the Sporting Series, ca. 1825

The purchase of an Enoch Wood "Sporting Series" Lion pattern well and tree platter sent me to my blog to see what I had written about lions.  I found  Lions and Lion (s) #2.   These are very short posts, and lions are popular animals on transferware,  so I thought I'd show you more patterns.  There are lions in landscape patterns, children's patterns, zoo patterns, and Aesop's Fables patterns.  Below are a few lions in landscape patterns.

Benjamin Adams (1809-1820) Lions 10 inch plate, ca. 1820.

John Hall (1814-1832) 10 inch plate from the "Quadrupeds" series, ca. 1825

Known as The Angry Lion, this pattern is printed on a 20.5 inch platter by an unknown maker, ca. 1820

Known as the Lion Hunter, this pattern is printed on a 9.5 inch plate, ca. 1820

William Hackwood (1827-1843) 12 inch cheese stand from the "Indian Scenery" series, ca. 1835

Job Meigh (& Son) 1805-1834) soup tureen base from the "Zoological Sketches" series, ca. 1835.  Does the lion resemble the lion on the Enoch Wood pattern?  Remember to click on the photo to make it larger.

Here are lots of children's patterns that feature lions.  There are many more!

Brownhills Pottery (1872-1896) "Wild Animals, The Lion" 7.25 inch plate.  Children's patterns were often used as teaching tools.  This pattern teaches the alphabet and delights the senses!

Child's 3.74 inch "Lion" pattern plate by an unknown maker.

Child's plate with a large lion.

Child's mug with objects illustrating the letter "L."  Here we see a lion, a lampost, and a lamb.

Child's plate with objects illustrating the letter "L."  As in the mug above, we see a lion, a lamp (no post?), and a lamb.

Child's  5.75 inch plate with "Lion" by an unknown maker.

Child's 2.12 inch mug printed with a "Lion."  The maker is unknown.

Aesop's Fables patterns are littered with lions.

Spode (1770-1833) plate illustrating the Aesop's Fables pattern "The Fox And The Lion," ca. 1832.

Spode (1770-1833) soup plate illustrating the Aesop's Fables pattern "The Lion In Love," ca. 1832.

Spode (1770-1833) interior of a bowl illustrating the Aesop's Fable "The Fox And The Sick Lion," ca. 1832.

Mintons (1872-1950) 6 inch tile illustrating the Aesop's Fable "The Lion and the Rat," ca. 1870-1880.

Mintons (1872-1950) 6 inch tile illustrating the Aesop's Fable "The Goat, Calf and Sheep in Partnership with the Lion," ca. 1870-1880.

Minton Hollins & Co. (1868-1892) 6 by 6 inch tile with a scene illustrating the Aesop's Fable "Androcles and the Lion."

Child's 3 inch mug printed with a pattern illustrating the Aesop's Fables "Androcles and the Lion."

Brown-Westhead, Moore & Co. (1862-1904) 18 inch platter with a pattern illustrating a fable by Jean de la Fontaine; "The Lion and the Gnat."  Although La Fontaine (1621-1695) said he was merely copying the tales of Aesop and other writers, he actually held the proverbial mirror up to his own society; the court of Louis XIV.

Child's plate illustrating the Aesop's Fable "The Lion And The Frog."

I only found one zoo pattern with a lion.  I did, however, find a photo I took at the London Zoo that shows a poster about the dwindling number Asiatic lions in the wild.  You may want to take a look at my London Zoo post.

Robinson, Wood & Brownfield (1837-1837) 17.5 inch platter showing a unrealistic lion enclosure at the London Zoo.  It is part of a series that commemorates the popular opening of the zoo in 1828.

Poster at the London Zoo in October 2015.

Below is a photo of the well and tree platter that started this post.  It doesn't photograph as well as the flat platter above, but it is as beautiful in reality.

Enoch Wood & Sons "Sporting Series" 21 inch well and tree platter.

The purchase also included a drainer.  It would have been a match for the flat platter, not the well and tree.  Too bad about the placement of the drainer holes!

Enoch Wood & Sons "Sporting Series" drainer

A coda:

The King of Beasts!  No wonder he was so popular on transferware and fables!

One more lion photo.

Doesn't the real lion above resemble the lion on this jug?

MOTHER GOOSE

Whittaker & Co. (1886-1892) "Hey Diddle Diddle" 5 inch plate/See the source print below.

Hey Diddle Diddle from "Favourite Rhymes For The Nursery" published by Thomas Nelson in 1870

May 1 is National Mother Goose Day.  Mother Goose and nursery rhymes often appear on transferware.  Many of the patterns, like the one above, were copied from popular 19th century books of children's nursery rhymes.  I have already written about both Mother Goose and nursery rhymes in my posts Nursery Rhymes On Transferware, Inappropriate Or Frightening Patterns For Children, and Cumulative Rhymes on Children's Pottery.   Take a look!

A selection of Mother Goose books

PASSOVER, SEDER, HAGGADAH, AND THE STORY OF THE EXODUS

Moses in the Bulrushes 6.25 inch saucer, ca. 1825.

I just attended two Passover seders.  One was short and child friendly (lots of very young children) and one was filled with young adults (20 somethings).  The purpose of the Seder is to tell the story of the Exodus.  It is commanded that it be read.  If you have never attended a Seder, or if you don't remember, the word Seder means order.  There is a ritual order to the telling of the story.  It is read from a book called the Haggadah, which means the telling.  The story starts with a new Egyptian pharaoh who does not remember Joseph and the good things he did to save Egypt.  This pharaoh only sees that the Israelites (known at different times as Hebrews or Jews) have increased in number, and he is afraid that they will overrun Egypt. He commands that the Israelites be enslaved, but they still multiply.  Then, he orders that all new Israelite baby boys be killed.  If you don't know the story, click on a summary of the Book of Exodus here.  Why are we commanded to tell the story every year?  In short,  the telling of the story of the Exodus is to remind us that the world hasn't changed much in the last three thousand five hundred years. There are still people who are enslaved and murdered.   There are still cruel leaders.  However, there are also brave men and women who risk everything to save these people: Moses and Pharaoh's daughter in ancient times,  and hopefully one of us today.  It says in the Haggadah that no one is free as long as there is injustice in the world.

I have written about Passover before.  Take a look at Had Gadya And Goats On Transferware,  Moses,  The Ten Commandments, and The Story Of Joseph.