"GONE WITH THE WIND" AND BLUE TRANSFERWARE

John & Richard Riley (1802-1828) 13.25 inch washbowl and 10.75 inch high (to the top of the handle) wash jug.  The pattern is known as "Feeding Chickens."

 
I watched "Gone With The Wind" last night on PBS.  I read the book in the summer of 1958, when I turned 14, and saw the movie the same year.  I loved it.  I have seen the movie five times since then.  Last night, I wasn't so enthralled by the movie.  Scarlett seemed pig-headed and shrewish, and Rhett was way too old for her.  I really felt Rhett did the wrong thing when he deserted Scarlett, Prissy, Melanie and her newborn baby to join the Rebel army.  What seemed romantic when I was young,  just looked negligent and self indulgent to me now.  However, I digress.  I saw something in the movie that I hadn't see before.  In the scene where Melanie is having her baby, Scarlett picks up a circa 1820s blue transferware wash pitcher to get some water.  She lifts it out of a large washbowl. The pitcher and bowl get about three minutes of time in the three hour movie, but I was riveted to them.   I wish I could identify the pattern.  Oh well.  I will have to show you my pitcher and bowl instead.

John & Richard Riley (1802-1828) 13.25 inch washbowl and 10.75 inch high (to the top of the handle) wash jug.  The pattern is known as "Feeding Chickens."/Notice the outside of the bowl is printed with the border pattern.

Next time you watch the movie, keep your eyes open for the pitcher and bowl, and let me know the pattern!

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS AND TRANSFERWARE

Knight Elkin & Bridgwood (1829-1840) "Scripture Illustrations, Moses On Mount Sinai, Exodus Chap. 20" 8 inch plate

As a little girl, I always enjoyed thinking about the Ten Commandments.  Some were seemingly so unambiguous; "Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before me, Honor Thy Father And Thy Mother, Thou Shalt Not Kill!  I liked the clear commandments.  However, others were not so clear; thou shalt not covet was unclear until I learned it meant desiring what someone else has.  As the oldest child in my family, I understood that!  I always wanted a younger sibling's toys or their demands on my mother's time and affection.

Children's patterns were often Sunday School awards or gifts, as well as the starting point for education.  I wasn't surprised to find children's plates illustrating a Commandment.

"The Commandments/Honour thy father and thy mother" child's plate with a molded alphabet border

"The Commandments/Thou shalt do no murder" 7 inch child's plate with a molded daisy border

I only have two plates to show you, but a few are found in books about Children's patterns: A Collector's Guide to ABC Plates, Mugs and Things by Mildred and Joseph Chalala illustrates "Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image" and Children's China by Pauline Flick shows "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house."  I look forward to finding all ten.

SERENDIPITY, SOURCE PRINTS, THOMAS BEWICK, AND TRANSFERWARE

I have written about source prints before (see a bunch below).*  A source print was quite literally the source for many early transferware patterns.  The patterns were copied from popular books and art works without compensation to the artist.  This was before the advent of the stricter British copyright laws of 1842 and 1844. 

I love finding source prints.  They fill my need for more information; who drew the original pattern and why.  A saucer with a boy riding a goat appeared on eBay recently.  The pattern looked familiar.  Whenever I see a pattern with an animal, I go to Thomas Bewick's  A General History Of Quadrupeds, 1790.   I knew the pattern was probably at the end of one of the chapters, as Bewick had the habit of drawing a vignette or tail-piece to punctuate each chapter.  Sometimes the vignette is  related to the chapter and sometimes not.  So I looked through much of the book before I spotted the boy riding the goat.  It appears at the end of the chapter titled "The Common Goat."  I could have saved myself a lot of time if I had just gone there first!

Boy riding a goat 6.5 inch saucer by an unknown maker, ca. 1825

Source print for the above saucer is from "A General History Of Quadrupeds" by Thomas Bewick, 1790

However, as I perused the chapter vignettes,  I found another print that looked familiar.  It was at the beginning of the chapter titled "The Domestic Cat."  I have never paid much attention to the pattern before.  Unlike Bewick's dogs (there are many), there is only one domestic cat.  I find it interesting how the brain can suddenly resonate with something that it ignored before.  One of my favorite children's patterns features a cat coupled with the text "For a good Girl."  The combination of cat and text is irresistible to me as I love cats and one very special (to me) little girl.  I wasn't looking for the source print, but I found it anyway!

"For a good Girl" 7 inch child's plate, ca. 1830

Source print for the above plate is from Thomas Bewick's "A General History Of Quadrupeds."  It features at the beginning of the chapter titled "The Domestic Cat."

* (I didn't realize I had included so many source prints in my blog posts)
Winemakers Redux
Transferware Treasures and Lady Godiva
"Arctic Scenery" And Transferware Animals
Beavers On Transferware
Pangolin
Doctor Syntax On Transferware
The Temperance Movement On Transferware
Thames Tunnel
Sheltered Peasant And Source Prints
Zoological Gardens, Some Source Prints And More
Tim Bobbin On A Transferware Plate
Ornithological Series And Find The Hidden Picture
A Beaver In India?
"Menageries" Jug
Cameleopard
"Quadrupeds" Hyena Cup Plate
"Quadrupeds" And Aesop's Fables
"Quadrupeds" And Source Prints
Transferware Zebras And Their Source Prints
Giraffe
The Goddess Kali
Lions
Skunks On Transferware
Dame Trot And Her Cat
Transferware Zoo Patterns #1

TRANSFERWARE FOR EASTER

"Behold him rising from the grave" 5.75 inch plate with a molded daisy border, ca. 1840.  The verse is taken from an 1832 edition of Isaac Watts' (1674-1748) "Divine Songs for Children." This illustration, in turn, is taken from Piero della Francesca's "Resurrection" fresco in Borgo San Sepolco.

Easter is more than yellow chicks and jelly beans.  For the 19th century child and for many children today, it means church and the story of the Crucifixion.  Here are some plates that may have been Easter or Sunday School gifts.

Child's plate,  The Crucifixion: "Jesus When He Had Cried Again With A Loud Voice Yeilded (sic) Up The Ghost," ca, 1830

Child's 6.3 inch plate "Christ Crucified." 

Although the plates above are an excellent jumping off place to begin a serious religious discussion, I prefer giving my young grandchildren plates patterned with chicks and bunnies.

Children's plates featuring chicks and chickens, all circa 1830-1840

Children's plates featuring rabbits, circa 1830-1880

ST. PATRICK'S DAY AND IRISH TRANSFERWARE PATTERNS

I thought St. Patrick's Day would be the appropriate time to show you Irish patterns.   Some are places in Ireland,  some are symbolic of Ireland, and some are about Irish history.  All of the patterns and many more are in the Pattern And Source Print Database of the Transferware Collectors Club.

"Hibernia" by John Wedg Wood (1841-1860).   Hibernia is the classical Latin name for Ireland. This pattern is part of a series where each size and shape has a different center.  The pattern on the top left is Enniskerry in County Wicklow, Ireland; the pattern on the bottom left is Lighthouse at Howth; and the pattern on the right is named "Trafalger."  It is actually a view of the quay at Waterford in Ireland.

Charles Harvey & Sons (1805-1827) "Dublin" Cheese Stand/Dublin is the capital of the Republic of Ireland, situated on the east coast at the mouth of the River Liffey.

Thomas & John Carey (1828-1842) "Irish Views/The Upper Lake of Killarney" 10.4 inch soup plate.  The pattern is part of a series that depicts different views of Ireland on each size and shape.

Dudson (1800-1898) 5.5 inch saucer known as Celtic Greeting, ca. 1829.   According to J. McQueen, Professor of Celtic Studies, Edinburgh Univ., 'The lady is ...Catholic Ireland, as is shown by the cross and the harp...The hero is Daniel O'Connell (1776-1847), the Liberator...The building behind...is the Roman Catholic Church...The sun breaking through represents the dawning possibility of Catholic Emancipation, which became reality in 1829.' He dates the saucer to 1828 when O'Connell was elected MP for County Clare.

An 1820s jug showing (top) Catholic Ireland (the woman) leaning on the Irish or Celtic harp and pointing to a shield emblazoned with a shamrock. The bottom left shows Catholic Ireland again.  Here, she is holding a shamrock staff and crowning a man who may be Daniel O'Connell (see the caption above).  O'Connell leans on an Irish or Celtic harp.  The bottom right shows the Irish or Celtic harp.  The border is composed of acorns and shamrocks.

Maker Unknown 5.75 inch saucer "Repeal, D O Connell Esq"/Following the ratification of Catholic Emancipation in 1829 (giving Catholics in Ireland the right to vote) and the passage of the Great Reform Bill of 1832, O'Connell formed the Repeal Association in 1840. This political movement sought to repeal the Act of Union which formed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1800, and to regain political autonomy for the Irish.

Wallis Gimson & Co. (1884-1890) "Charles Stuart Parnell. M.P."  9.5 inch plate.  Parnell was a leader in the fight for Irish Home Rule.  Notice the harp and shamrock of Ireland with the words "Erin-Go-Bragh" above the portrait of Parnell.

Erin Go Bragh!*  I think I used more links in this post than in any other!

STILTON CHEESE STANDS

"Rural Village" (also known as Village Church) Stilton cheese stand/2.5 inches high by 11.5 inches in diameter. It is circa 1825.

I bought a cake stand that I soon learned was actually a Stilton cheese stand.  I found a reference to Stilton cheese stands in Robert Copeland's Ceramic Bygones;  "Cheese was important to complete a formal meal.  A Stilton cheese could be kept moist in a Stilton cheese pan with a pottery base and cover.  A more common way was to have a flat Stilton cheese stand with a low raised edge; the cheese was kept in good condition beneath a large glass cover.  Unfortunately,  few of these glass covers have survived with the bases."  Copeland goes on to relate how to keep the cheese moist by  cutting off the top and reusing it to cover the cheese.

Willow pattern cheese stand above and Romantic pattern stand below.  Notice how the shape of the Stilton cheese fits the stand.

Although I have never served a large Stilton cheese on my stands, I find them useful to serve cake, cookies, pies, quiche, and much more.  I have also used them (I own three) as cheese trays (assorted small cheeses).

Below are a few  more stands.  (Remember that they would have had glass or pottery domes).

Pountney & Allies (1816-1835) "St.Vincents (sic) Rocks" 2 inches high by 10 inches in diameter Stilton cheese stand in the Bristol Views series

Spode (1770-1833) Castle pattern 1.5 inches high by 10.5 inches in diameter Stilton Cheese stand

I have no glass domes to show you, but my friend, Dora, has supplied me with photos of two of her lovely earthenware cheese domes.

Two earthenware cheese domes/The dome on the left is printed with Davenport's The Villagers pattern, ca. 1825.  I don't know the name of the circa 1850s Romantic pattern on the right.

My own experience is that Stilton cheese stands are about the most useful pieces of old transferware. And, they are also easy to store. 

A Stack of Stilton Cheese Stands (3)

ENDANGERED ANIMALS AND TRANSFERWARE

I have already written about the threats to many of the animals on our planet.  It would appear that transferware has nothing to do with endangered animals, but there are connections.  Benjamin Franklin said "A Dead Bee Maketh No Honey."  You can read about this in my post Bees And Transferware.  In light of the present state of the honeybee, his words were prophetic (although I realize he was addressing negligence or lack of industriousness). 

J. & G. Meakin (1851-2004)  7.38 inch child's plate "A Dead Bee Maketh No Honey"

Did you know that the Eurasian beaver is making a comeback?  Did you even know that it was hunted to the brink of extinction? Read about it in my post Beavers On Transferware.

Enoch Wood & Sons (1818-1846) wash bowl with the Sporting Series Beaver pattern, ca. 1825

Another endangered animal is the pangolin; the world's only scaly mammal.  I learned about the pangolin and its plight when I was given a pattern to add to the Transferware Collectors Club Pattern And Source Print Database (I'm one of the editors).  The pangolin is a great delicacy with imagined magical powers, so it has been hunted to near extinction.  You can read about this in my post titled Pangolin.

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

The native red squirrel is endangered in Britain by the American (aka Eastern) grey squirrel.  An unusual looking squirrel on a "Flora Pattern" plate alerted me to yet another threatened animal.  You can read the story in Flora Pattern And Squirrels.

"Flora Pattern" 10 inch plate with squirrel, ca. 1820

My last animal is a bit of a reach.  I have convinced myself that the animal in the "Visit to the Zebra" pattern seen below is really a quagga.  I mainly wanted to share with you the story of this extinct animal and its remarkable quasi comeback.  Read  Visit To The Quagga to learn more.

Child's plate, "Visit To The Zebra" ca. 1840

Photo of a quagga in the London Zoo, ca. 1870

 I realize this blog is merely a bagatelle.  Transferware and endangered animals?  Decide for yourself.