THE TCC ENGLAND TOUR 2015: PART THREE - THE POTTERIES MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY

Red Deer

What is this deer doing in the Potteries Museum And Art Gallery?  The museum is filled with all kinds of things; decorative art, fine art, and even natural history.  I always go to the second floor to see the pottery, for which the area became known, but there is so much more.  Like any good museum, there is something for everyone.

I love the cow creamers.  There are 667 of them in the Keiller Collection at the Potteries Museum.   The caveat when the collection was donated was that two thirds always had to be exhibited.  That is a lot of cows!  If you want to read an excellent and detailed article about cow creamers,  see "Transfer Printed Cow Cream Jugs: A Breed All Their Own" by Loren Zeller in the Transferware Collectors Club Bulletin.

Cow Creamers

More Cow Creamers

 
There is so much pottery at the museum that I can only give you a taste.  If you want the whole meal, I suggest you go in person.

Whieldon

Drabware

Creamware

Wedgwood

Useful stuff

More useful stuff

 Minton  (Not as useful as the items above)

Transferware

I have shown you some of upstairs ceramics, but here are some of the downstairs items (i.e. the reserve collection).   Notice that the items are really just in storage.

The storage shelving is not fancy.  It appears to be unfinished particle board.

Lovely Turner posy vases/the plain storage shelves don't detract from the beauty of the pottery.

Plates of many colors.

Lots of interesting items; a flask, a jug, and smoker's sets.

Mainly Willow/Any guesses as to the pattern on the cheese cradle?

The storage shelves are rough, but the transferware basket and undertray are delicate and gorgeous!

David peeking through the other side of the glass storage shelves.

Potteries Museum & Art Gallery

If you haven't seen my posts on the TCC Tour 2015 - Part 1 and Part 2, click on the links.  We visited many museums, so there is more to come.  Stay tuned.

THE TCC ENGLAND TOUR 2015: PART TWO - KEELE HALL AND THE RAVEN MASON COLLECTION

Continuing with the TCC England Tour 2015, we visited Keele Hall in Staffordshire, the ancestral home of the Sneyd family, that houses the Raven Mason Collection of Porcelain and Ironstone China.  The building looks Jacobean, but it was actually built in the 19th century.

Keele Hall, Staffordshire

Here is a bit of an aside.  I sometimes get confused as to which Mason is which. For example, who is Miles Mason, William Mason, George Miles Mason, or Charles James Mason?  Also, Francis Morley and George Ashworth?  Confused?  Take a look at the Mason's Chronology link here.

The Raven Mason Collection has cases filled with beautiful ironstone and porcelain patterns.  I mainly focused on the ironstone.
 

Japan Patterns

More ironstone patterns

Mazarine and Gold

It is hard to see different patterns in the cases shown above, so I'll show some bigger photos.  Here is arguably the most well-known Mason's ironstone pattern; Water Lily.

G.M. & C.J. Mason's Water Lily Ironstone pattern.  It has an impressed line mark on the back, "Mason's Patent Ironstone China."  The mark was used between 1813-1826.

"Mason's Patent Ironstone China" impressed line mark.

 
Shown below is a less well-known pattern printed in blue.  It is know as Chinese Dragon, and also has an impressed line mark on the back.   This mark refers to the type of Welsh clay; "Mason's Cambrian Argil."   The Mason's factory appears to be the only one to incorporate the name "Cambrian" into the factory mark.

G.M. & C.J. Mason's Chinese Dragon has an impressed line mark on the back, 1813-1826.

"Mason's Cambrian Argil" impressed mark/Really hard to see!  The plate is earthenware rather than ironstone.

I thought I'd show you the vivid blue and gold decoration on this jug.  It is hard to see in the case above.

G.M & C.J. Mason (1813-1826) mazarine blue and gold hydra-shaped jug.  The photo above gives you a better idea of the rich colors that are not seen in my photograph of the items in the case full of mazarine blue and gold.

Just a few more patterns.  These were made by Charles James Mason after his brother, George Miles, retired from the partnership; if you look at the marks,  you'll see they appear to be from two different business operations. 

Charles James Mason & Co. (1826-1845) Basket Japan Pattern

Charles James Mason & Co. mark (1826-1845) /Are there any differences between this crown and the one below?

Charles James Mason (1845-1854) You'll see this pattern in the middle of one of the cases above/Look carefully!  The TCC database says the pattern was continued later under G.L. Ashworth.

Charles James Mason mark (1845-1854)

 
The visit to Keele Hall whetted my interest in Mason's Ironstone China in particular and Mason's china in general.   The Transferware Collectors Club Pattern And Source Print Database has lots of information about Mason's patterns.   I also looked at one of the books in my own library; Mason's -  The First Two Hundred Years by Gaye Blake Roberts.  There are many more.

I see that I have digressed as usual.  The TCC Tour was much more organized than my brain!  I shall continue showing you some more of the highlights of the tour in my next blog post.

If you haven't seen the TCC England Tour 2015:  Part One, look here.

THE TCC ENGLAND TOUR 2015: PART ONE - THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM

"A Present From The Staffordshire Potteries" 7.25 inch pearlware plate, ca. 1825.  The plate is obviously an early souvenir!

I just returned from the Transferware Collectors Club Tour and Meeting in England.  We started in London and ended in the Staffordshire Potteries.   I thought I'd show you some of the highlights (to me).  I took 1324 photos, so I had to choose just a few.  This was hard, so I tried to focus on the pottery.  I also decided to cover the tour in more than one blog post. 

The Victoria And Albert Museum has a huge ceramics gallery (they also have a huge amount of everything else).   The ceramics are displayed as visible storage.

Sign in the V&A Ceramics Gallery

Glass cases filled with ceramics/A museum worker can access the pottery from the center of the storage/display.

This is what the display looks like from the outside (where we are). Lots of stuff! 

Mainly painted 18th century creamware teapots and printed 18th century creamware tea canisters and creamware plates. 

Early blue printed hollow ware and a variety of colored plates and pots lids.

A design and color mixture.  Can you spot the Wedgwood Water Lily plate?

One of my favorite pieces is this 30 gallon jug.  I first saw it in 1987.   

Thirty Gallon Jug, ca. 1830.  It was probably intended for display.  The pattern is known as Wild Rose for the border or Nuneham Courtney for the building in the background.  Nuneham Courtenay is located on the river Thames about five miles southeast of Oxford.

David is standing near the jug to give you a bit of perspective as to its size.

The museum showcased a special exhibit titled Blue and White: British Printed Ceramics.   It highlighted the connection between antique and modern printed ware.  The V&A sign gives you a bit of blue and white history.

Here is a case from the exhibit showing old and new transfer printed pottery.

A juxtaposition of old and new transfer printed pottery.

Below is a close-up of a pair of juxtaposed old and new transfer print.

John & Richard Riley soup plate on the left, "Goggerdan, Cardiganshire," circa 1825, shows an idyllic country scene with grazing cows.  The modern platter by Paul Scott, "Foot and Mouth no. 5," references the major foot and mouth outbreak of 2001.  "The motif of cows' legs pointing skywards on pyres of cattle became a defining image of the crisis.  The image is given additional potency (I would add poignancy) by its application to a meat serving plate made of bone china, a material of which animal bone is a constituent."

Take a look at the iconic and probably most recognizable blue transfer printed pattern; Willow.

Willow Pattern

Below see a case of both traditional Willow pattern ceramics, as well as modern interpretations.

Old and New/Notice the modern renditions of the traditional Willow pattern.  

A case filled with old and new flower and bird transfer printed ware.

Not all of the ceramics at the V&A are transfer printed (just kidding).

Redware and more

Creamware and more

More pots!

Figures!

Non-English ceramics

One last thing.  The entrance to the V&A has a gorgeous Dale Chilhuly glass sculpture hanging from the ceiling.

To Be Continued...