SCHOOL AND TRANSFERWARE

Child's mug 2.41 inch by 2.62 inch, Going To School, ca. 1830

Palo Alto children have returned to school this week, so I thought I would share some of the transferware patterns that have school as a subject.  Here are a few that illustrate going to school and coming home.

Child's 5 inch plate Going To School (hard to see the writing at the bottom of the print), ca. 1830 

Child's plate, 7.12 inches. The pattern is part of a series copied from The School-boy by William Upton (Darton, 1820).  The entire text reads: "GOING TO SCHOOL/The Satchel on his back you see,/The first in School the last to flee,/And says he ne'er a Truant be/THE SCHOOL-BOY!" ca. 1830

Thomas Patterson & Co. (1827-1847) child's plate, 7.75 inches. Going to School is part of a series of children's plates that depicts children's activities.

Thomas Patterson & Co. (1827-1847) child's plate, 7.75 inches Returned From School/ This is a companion plate to Going To School/The boy and his dog definitely look happier!

Child's plate, 7.12 inches He Returns from The School-Boy series (see above)

Coming Out Of School 7.12 inch child's plate

Some of the patterns were intended to be rewards for doing well in school.

Present for going to School 3 inch child's mug, ca. 1820

For Improvement at School 5.12 inch child's plate with a shell edge, ca. 1820

Some showed children playing school with their dolls and others showed the nursery or infant school.

Darning egg, Our Early Days, shows a girl teaching the alphabet to her dolls

The School 7.75 inch plate, ca. 1820

Source print for The School plate above.  It is an illustration from a book titled The Governess by William Upton, 1812. Although all of the children appear to be girls, 19th century boys this young would have had long hair and worn dresses. 

Twenty-first century school children and their teachers

ANIMAL ALPHABET

My brother-in-law gave me an embroidered animal alphabet that was made in 1944.  I love alphabet animals and I was born in 1944, so I love the gift. Animals have often been used to teach the alphabet, so I thought I would show you how animals and the alphabet were used by 19th century British potters to teach children their ABCs (I doubt I have ever used the words animal and alphabet so often in one paragraph!)

Animal alphabet embroidery 29 inches by 26 inches, 1944/Notice the strange "I" animal/  Is it an ibex?

 

Apple, Ape, Air, alphabet plate, 6.25 inches. The pattern was intended to teach the alphabet. It would have been part of a series that included all of the letters./Notice that the border is a molded alphabet

E begins Elephant, Eagle, and Eggs alphabet plate, 7 inches. This pattern was used as a teaching tool, and is part of a series that would have included the whole alphabet.

E Was an Eagle, and sat among Rocks alphabet plate, 7.5 inches. Patterns with letters were used as teaching tools for children.

H begins Horse, whose paces are swift alphabet plate, 5.12 inches. This pattern is part of a series that teaches the letters of the alphabet.

Lamb. Lion. Lamp alphabet or ABC plate, size unknown. The pattern would have been part of a series of all the letters of the alphabet.

Wild Animals, The Lion alphabet plate, 7.25 inches.  Made by Brownhills Pottery (1872-1896), the series includes 8 animal patterns

Pig, Pigeon, Pins alphabet plate, size unknown.  The pattern is surrounded by a molded alphabet border

Octagonal alphabet plate, 6.5 inches. Children's patterns with alphabet letters were used as teaching tools. The above pattern may have been part of the entire alphabet. However, it is hard to imagine a child receiving 26 plates or mugs as a gift! Perhaps, a pattern was chosen with the child's initials in mind.

You may already have noticed that A, L and P are part of the same series.  Try not to let the border or color confuse you.

Below is the cover of my alphabet and china book for children and adults.  I wrote about it in my blog post Dishy Animals ABC.  I am really passionate about animals and the alphabet.  Thank you Frank!

Dishy Animals ABC

PANGOLIN

Saucer, 4.25 inches, printed in black with a pangolin, ca. 1820

A close-up of the saucer/The word pangolin is found among the leaves at the bottom of the photo

The source print for the pangolin is found in Histoire Naturelle by Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon, ca. 1788

A photo of a saucer printed with an animal called a pangolin was sent to me to enter into the Transferware Collectors Club Pattern and Source Print Database.  I actually wondered if the animal was real.  Research showed that the pangolin is similar to an armadillo and an anteater. It has large plate-like scales, and in the past was thought to be a link between mammals and reptiles.  It is, however,  a mammal.  Pangolins are an endangered species as it is thought that its ground up scales are a cure for cancer or asthma. They are also considered a delicious exotic food. Their plight is similar to that of the rhinoceros which is hunted for the imagined magical and erotic properties of its horn.

Recently I saw video about pangolins on the Facebook page of the London Zoo (Zoological Society of London or ZSL).  It is an old truth that once you learn about something you see it everywhere.  The video is graphic and disturbing, but makes the point that using animals for selfish purposes is wrong.  Pangolins shouldn't go the way of the quagga (see my quagga post here), the carrier pigeon, or the dodo.

TRANSFER PRINTED IMPERIAL MEASURES

Nineteenth Century British Imperial Measures

The British Weights and Measures Act of 1824 standardized measuring quantities. The system of imperial units or the imperial system is also known as the British Imperial or Imperial Measure.  Happily for lovers of blue and white,  many mugs and jugs that conformed to these new standards were transfer printed.  According to The Dictionary of Blue and White Printed Pottery 1780-1880, Volume II by Coysh and Henrywood, they are usually marked with the words Imperial Measure and often include the Royal coat of arms.

Imperial Measure mug, 6 inches high by 4.25 inches in diameter/No printing on the sides/holds a quart of liquid

1 Quart Imperial Measure mug, 6.25 inches high by 4.12 inches in diameter

 1 Quart mug with a romantic scene on the side/it is the same on the other side

Imperial Measure quart jug, 6 inches high by 3.5 inches in diameter with the initial V R for Victoria Regina/The view is Bear Forest, Cork, Ireland

Side of Imperial Measure quart jug, Bear Forest, Cork, Ireland jug

Side of Imperial Measure quart jug, Bear Forest, Cork, Ireland jug

Imperial Measure pint mug 4.75 inches high by 3.5 inches in diameter /The view is Bear Forest, Cork, Ireland/This is an earlier version of this pattern (no VR for Victoria Regina)

Side of Imperial Measure pint mug, Bear Forest, Cork, Ireland jug

Side of Imperial Measure pint mug, Bear Forest, Cork, Ireland jug

Bovey Tracey Potteries (1842-1957)/The Gem pint mug/notice the absence of the Royal Coat of Arms/The mug illustrates three of the season/here, summer

Bovey Tracey Potteries (1842-1957)// The Gem pint mug/notice the absence of the Royal Coat of Arms/The mug illustrates three of the season/here, spring (Notice the Maypole)

Bovey Tracey Potteries (1842-1957)// The Gem pint mug/notice the absence of the Royal Coat of Arms/The mug illustrates three of the season/here, autumn

Britain is mainly on the metric system now, but not in pubs.  You can still buy a pint (or two)!  Probably not in a transfer printed mug.

SNAKE IN THE GARDEN?

Davenport (1794-1887) 21 inch by 16 inch platter, ca. 1825 (notice the snake/worm on the left).

As you  know, one of my favorite things about transferware is what I learn from studying it.  I have always thought the animal in this Davenport pattern was an earthworm.  However, I was told that the animal could not be a worm because worms are not that big.  It had to be a snake.  According to Wikipedia, the average earthworm is:  "Depending on the species, an adult earthworm can be from 10 mm (0.39 in) long and 1 mm (0.039 in) wide to 3 m (9.8 ft) long and over 25 mm (0.98 in) wide, but the typical Lumbricus terrestris grows to about 360 mm (14 in) long."

It is also said that the snake or worm is a handle on the vase. It should be remembered that patterns are not necessarily representational.  They can be subject to the whim of the original artist or engraver.  The animals could be handles, but are not centered, and look a bit frail for a handle. 

Davenport 8.25 inch plate (notice two snake/worm "handles").

Davenport water jug (notice the snake/worm on the left).

I just thought a worm fit in with the natural look of the flower arrangement.  I have brought worms and other critters into my house along with garden flowers.  Luckily, no snakes!  However, when I visited my family in the Loire Valley in France a few years ago, I was told to beware of vipers in the garden.  That said, the animal could also be a European viper! 

What do you think?

DOCTOR SYNTAX ON TRANSFERWARE

Ralph & James Clews (1814-1834) The Advertisement for a Wife 15.25" by 11.5" platter, ca. 1825

The Advertisement for a Wife by Thomas Rowlandson 1821

The Third Tour of Dr. Syntax in search of a Wife, p. 210  (See the link to the entire book below.)

 A lot has been written about Doctor Syntax, possibly the first cartoon.  Or, perhaps, the first time the word cartoon was used to describe two-dimensional caricatures rather than the preparatory drawings for a formal work.  Doctor Syntax was created by the artist Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) and put to verse by William Combe (1742-1823).  He first appeared in The Poetical Magazine in 1809 (published by Rudolph Ackermann).  The caricature was so popular that it was published in book form as The Tour of Dr. Syntax in search of the Picturesque in 1812, and was followed by The Second Tour of Dr. Syntax in search of Consolation in 1820 and The Third Tour of Dr. Syntax in search of a Wife in 1821.  The books were the best sellers of their day, and continued to be published throughout the 19th century and into the 20th century.  The Staffordshire potters, always looking for what seized the imagination of the public, copied Rowlandson's prints onto pottery.  Ralph & James Clews created a dinner service in dark blue (more than 30 different patterns) for the American Market in the 1820s, and the Adams factory sold Doctor Syntax patterned plates from 1900 through the 1970s.  I love the Clews' patterns, but I especially enjoy the Doctor Syntax patterns printed on pottery for children.  Although Doctor Syntax was intended for adults, he clearly was found amusing by children.  I think of him as Bugs Bunny without the ears.

Dr. Syntax Pursued By A Bull on a 5.5 inch plate with a molded dog, fox and monkey border, ca. 1830

Dr. Syntax Pursued By A Bull from the First Tour of Doctor Syntax by Thomas Rowlandson

Dr. Syntax Bound to a Tree by Highwaymen on a 7.5 inch plate with a molded dog, fox and monkey border, ca. 1830

Dr. Syntax Bound to a Tree by Highwaymen from the First Tour of Doctor Syntax by Thomas Rowlandson

Dr. Syntax Sells Grizzle on a 7 inch plate with a molded animal border, ca. 1830

Dr. Syntax Sells Grizzle
from the First Tour of Doctor Syntax by Thomas Rowlandson

Baker, Bevans & Irwin (1814-1838) 6.75 inch Dr. Syntax plate with a molded Rose and Honeysuckle border, ca. 1830

Doctor Syntax Setting Out For London by Thomas Rowlandson/I am not sure which book this print is from.

Doctor Syntax was so popular that he appeared in many incarnations.  I found a Pinterest page titled Dr. Syntax by Rod Wilson that shows some interesting Doctor Syntax pictures.  Take a look.  There is even a quilt!

If you have made it this far in my blog post, you deserve to see a charming use of a Doctor Syntax cheese cradle.  Its original purpose was to hold a stilton cheese wheel, but it has been repurposed here as a fruit stand.  The view is Dr. Syntax Bound to a Tree by Highwaymen by Ralph & James Clews.

Ralph & James Clews Dr. Syntax Bound to a Tree by Highwaymen Cheese Cradle