Posts Tagged ‘coats of arms’

Lead-glazed ware
The earliest British lead-glazed potter) was made in the I0th or the 11th century. Recent evacuations Of sites at Winchester and Stamford have revealed crude and sometimes partially glazed cooking pots, pitchers, and bottles. In the 17th century a more idiosyncratic type of British pottery developed, including the bold slipwares 4 Staffordshire and of Wrotham, Kent. A considerable range of different pottery types were covered in lead glaze; red, buff, or white-bodied clays were covered
a clear or coloured lead glaze similar to that of the Chinese sancai tomb pottery made during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). During the 18th and 19th centuries
Staffordshire emerged as one of the most important ceramics regions of the modern age. All the necessary ingredients for high-quality production were found in
a area: first-rate clays, local supplies of coal to fuel sic kilns, and an extensive waterway system for transporting the finished product.
pitchers, pie plates, salts, tygs (a type of large mug), and dishes. Thickly potted, most wares were boldly decorated with figures, animals, birds, or coats of arms. This latter type remained popular well into the 19th Century, especially on oblong oven dishes. Some fine slipwares have the names of such potters as Thomas Tort (d.1689), Ralph Simpson 1651-1724), and William Taylor (b.c. 1630) prominently displayed in the decoration. Because such documentary wares are very expensive, this type has been faked at least since the latter half of the 19th century.
TORTOISESHELL, AGATE, AND
JACKFIELD WARE
Thomas Whieldon ( 1719-95) is usually associated with the production of tortoiseshell ware, although many potteries in north Staffordshire made similar wares from the mid-18th century. They are distinguished by the use Of translucent coloured glazes, Only partially mixed, or mottled, to produce an effect suggested by their title. Combinations of manganese brown, copper green, and cobalt blue were used on domestic wares or figures. Agate ware differs from tortoiseshell in that,
instead of differently coloured glazes being mixed, it
is made by mixing differently coloured clays to produce an effect similar to hardstones – hence the name. First made c.1740, these salt- or lead-glazed wares were later developed by Josiah Wedgwood (1730-95). The term “Jackfield” has been traditionalIy given to a reddish-brown ware covered in a very glossy black glaze. This type of ware was probably first made in Jackfield, Shropshire, from C.1750, and later produced in many potteries in Staffordshire and elsewhere in the second and third quarters of the 18th century. Production was predominantly of hollow-ware decorated with moulding, gilding, or enamelling.
Slipware
• COLOURED) slips dark brown, tan, and white
• Forms dishes, tygs, puzzle jugs, and chargers
• DECORATION trailing, combing, marbling; designs: heraldic devices, figures, animals, birds, coats of arms
Tortoiseshell, agate, and Jackfield wares
• GLAZES tortoiseshell: mottled green, yellow, white, manganese, and blue; Jackfield: black and very shiny
• FORMS mainly teawares
• SPUR MARKS two or three left by supporting pins on the base of plates during firing
• DECORATION applied motifs, crabstock handles
• COLLECTING cow creamers are very popular
Tobyjugs
• COLLECTING extremely popular area of collecting; Prattware types were made after c.1780; the most desirable are those of the so-called “Ralph Wood” type; the most typical and popular figure is the “Tope”

Tin-glazed earthenwares were made in Italy from at least the 13th century, and developed from very basic decorated pieces to wares of extremely high artistic quality. “Maiolica” is the term for Italian tin-glazed earthenwares, and is probably derived from the Tuscan name for the island of Majorca through which Hispano-Moresque wares from Spain were shipped to Italy from the 14th century.
BEFORE c.1400
The earliest period of maiolica production is known as the “Archaic” period and covers wares made until c.1400. The wares are basic in form: simple bowls, dishes, basins, or jugs. Decoration was executed mainly in manganese brown on a copper-green ground,
although yellow and blue were also used. The underlying tin-glazed surface is not always white, or even off-white, but a warm biscuity colour. Designs were mostly of stylized birds, animals, ribbonwork, hatching, geometric motifs, or occasionally the human figure.
1400-1500
From the early 14th century, maiolica emerged from
its humble origins to become a material appropriate for the most elevated patrons. Wares tend to be grouped according to the different types of decoration; the first was the “green” family (c.1425-50), a close descendant of the old Archaic tradition, in which designs were washed in green and outlined in manganese brown. The designs show a greater sensitivity and accomplishment than their predecessors but are still governed by the form of vessel or dish on which they appear. The “blue relief” wares (c.1430-60), which were mainly made in Tuscany, were painted in a very thick, rich, cobalt blue, a technique known as “impasto”, with detailing in manganese brown and copper green. Wares include albarelli (drug jars for use in pharmacies and spice stores) decorated with birds, animals, human figures, coats of arms, or oak leaves. Two-handled jars with oak-leaf decoration are called “oak-leaf” jars.
In the second half of the 15th century Italian potters produced ever more sophisticated work in both form and design. In contrast to the restricted early palette, tiles, albarelli, and dishes were painted in a broad range of colours, including blue, green, a translucent turquoise, yellow, and ochre. Designs include a bold Gothic scrolling leaf, the “Persian palmette” (resembling a pine-cone), the “peacock-feather eye”, “San Bernardino rays” (wavy radiating lines), tightly scrolled foliage with dotted flower-heads (probably inspired by Hispafio-Moresque ornament), ribbonwork, and geometric motifs.
The development of printing from the mid-15th century onward had
a major influence on the maiolica decorators, who used some of the primitive figural images – such as those on tarot cards – to decorate objects. With few exceptions, subjects before c.1500 are allegorical or symbolic, in contrast to the narrative style that developed during the following century. Most of the surviving early figural subjects have been found on wares attributed to Faenza or Florence, the foremost maiolica centres in the 15th century. Other important centres of production included Orvieto, Naples, and Deruta.
1500-1600
About 1480 the ruins of the Domus
Aurea (Golden House) of Emperor Nero was discovered in Rome; the walls in the grotto (underground
rooms) were painted with
ornament that included
scrolling foliage, fantastic
animals, and birds. Known
as “grotesques”, these
designs were translated
into engravings and used
extensively on Italian maiolica
for the next 200 years. Other designs were taken from a variety
of printed sources, including the
Metanzorpboses by the Classical
Roman poet Ovid, and the engravings
of Marcantonio Raimondi – most notable for reproducing work after the High Renaissance artist Raphael, who is considered the single most important influence on Italian istoriato (narrative) maiolica. Other artists whose work was incorporated into the painted designs include Albrecht Durer and Andrea Mantegna. Istoriato wares depict biblical, mythological, or historical themes, usually in a brilliant palette that employed the full range of high-fired colours; particularly predominant were a rich orange and a brilliant blue. The most important centres of production for istoriato wares were Urbino, Casteldurante, and Gubbio.
Other decorative styles include the “belle donne” dishes made particularly around Urbino from c.1520, which depicted the heads of beautiful women, and the a quartieri style – a patchwork of small, differently coloured panels each decorated with scrollwork or grotesques. In the 1520s the berrettino (grey-blue) ground was introduced in Faenza, and wares were typically decorated with grotesques and arabesques. The simplified compendiario style of decoration was introduced in Faenza during the second half of the 16th century, probably as a reaction to the increasingly busy istoriato ato wares. This simple, rather sketchy style, depicting flowers, figures, or coats of arms, employed a limited palette of blue, yellow, and ochre on a rich whit ground known as bianco di Faenza. In Montelupo in northern Italy, potters produced very high-quality ware, decorated with saints or single figures surrounded by a band of complex decoration. Wares included curious bulbous ewers with dragon-head spouts.
KEY FACTS
Before 1400
• BODY fairly crude brownish or buff colour
• GLAZE thin, an off-white colour
• PALETTE usually manganese brown and copper green
• FORMS simple bowls, dishes, basins, and jugs
• DECORATION known as “Archaic”; rather crude crosshatching used as a ground, geometric motifs, stylized birds and animals, occasionally figures
• IMPORTANT CENTRES OF PRODUCTION Florence,
Faenza, Deruta, Orvieto, and Naples
1400-1500
• BODY this improved as the century progressed
• GLAZE off-white, sometimes pinky
• PALETTE cobalt blue introduced c.1400; ochre and other colours such as turquoise
• DECORATION known as “severe”; groups include the “green” family, “blue relief”; decoration includes oak leaves, birds, animals, figures, coats of arms, Gothic scrolling leaves, “Persian palmettos”, “peacock-feather eyes”, and “San Bernardino rays”
• IMPORTANT CENTRES OF PRODUCTION Florence,
Faenza, Orvieto, Naples, and Deruta
1500-1600
• BODY increasingly refined
• GLAZE whiter, particularly bianco di Faenza
• PALETTE high-fired colours, including a deep sky blue and orange; a deep lapis blue in Faenza; metallic lustring in Gubbio and Deruta
• STYLES istoriato (narrative); a quartieri (quartered); compendiario (sketchy); belle donne (beautiful women)
• DECORATION grotesques; biblical or mythological scenes taken from printed sources or after famous painters; garlands, arabesques, trophies of arms, portrait medallions
• FORMS Ilbarclli, large dishes and bowls, storage jars
• IMPORTANT I CENTRES OF PRODUCTION Cafaggioio,
Casteldurante, Critelli, Deruta, Faenza, Gubbio, Montelupo, Pesaro, Rimini, Siena, Urbino, and Venice

Spain’s major contribution to European ceramics history is lustreware. The technique for firing lustred pottery was first developed in the early Islamic world, probably in the 9th century. The Moors conquered Spain in the 8th century, but it was probably not until the mid-13th century that lustred pottery was made there.
LUSTREWARE
The most important centres for lustreware were first at Malaga and later at Manises (near Valencia) in southern Spain. The earliest wares show a strong Islamic influence, with Kufic (Arabic) script, and such motifs as the tree of life, the “Hand of Fatima”, and knot patterns. The Output consisted mainly of dishes, bowls, pitchers, albarelli (drug jars ), jars, and tiles. Lustre itself varies in colouring; toward the end of the 15th century it became
redder, and later in the 17th century a brash coppery colour. During the late 14th and early 15th centuries   it is often difficult to distinguish one centre of production from another.
Popular 15th-century motifs include bryony, crowns, fern-like leaves, or acacia (the latter is often used alone), parsley flowers, cotton stalks, vines, and ivy leaves. Other tiny geometric patterns were also used as ground
LATER SPANISH POTTERY
Glazed earthenware appears to have been made in Talavera de la Reina, near Toledo, and at Puente del Arzobispo, from at least the first half of the 16th century. Early    mainly
wares were decorated     in an Italian or a Flemish style, until a regional style emerged in the late 16th century. Dishes, basins, jugs, and other domestic wares were made in increasing quantities to replace silverware, the use of which was severely restricted after 1601 with the introduction of  sumptuary laws. Dishes, of which a large number survive, were painted in high-fired colours – brown, a brilliant green, ochre, and blue. The most popular subjects were soldiers, bust portraits, animals, birds, and coats of arms surrounded by a framework of partially hatched foliage. Among the more successful types are scenes with equestrian figures, hunting scenes, and animals careering amid curly foliage. Apart from the
wares already-    the range included albarelli, amphoras, and holy water stoups from c.1560 to 1650. Many blue-and-white wares were also painted in the
manner of  late Ming export porcelain.
In 1727 a factory was established in Alcorn, north of Valencia, which soon became the foremost ceramic factory in Spain, making a high-quality faience called loza fina. na. With the help of craftsmen such as Edouard Roux from Moustiers in France, a wide range of
beautifully modelled and painted wares was produced. Output included animal-form spice-pots, animal-shaped tureens like those made in Strasbourg, and trompe Poeil dishes decorated with fake comestibles. Decoration was inspired by early Moustiers with blue grotesques or polychrome lambrequins, dwarfs, and fantastic creatures. In many cases it is very difficult to distinguish Alcora from Moustiers ware, although the former is composed of a fine reddish clay while the latter is usually of a warm buff clay. The success of Alcora encouraged other Spanish factories to adopt the French style.
In common with other European factories after 1800, Spanish potters continued in the established traditions. Generally the output consisted mainly of more utilitarian objects such as basins, dishes, and jugs intended for the domestic market or for the tourist trade. The themes are mostly simplified renditions of 17th- and 18th-century wares, including animals –the hare, the deer, and the bull – almost all of which are set amid modestly drawn vegetation; armorial ornament; geometrical designs using concentric circles or simple repeated motifs; and foliated decoration. Whatever the type of decoration, the wares are usually painted with bold brushstrokes in the old “hot” colours – green, manganese, yellow, and ochre – and sometimes with a pinkish puce that was virtually unknown before the 19th century. This later production is of variable quality, ranging from crude, gritty ware to the slick, hard-edged appearance of modern mass-produced ware.
•    GLAZE Arzobispo and Talavera: hard and glassy
•    WARES tableware, drug jars, basins, ewers, vases, tiles
•    PALETTI lustreware: red hue and later a brash coppery colour; Arzobispo and Talavera: dominated by rich green, blue, and ochre, with manganese detailing; Alcorn: blue and white or polychrome
•    DECORATION lustreware: mainly small floral or geometric designs enclosing an armorial bearing and later with large feathery leaves, fish, and other animals; faience: Arzobispo and Talavera wares were vigorously painted with landscapes, figures, or animals; Alcora: lambrequins and arabesques similar to Moustiers
•    IMPORTANT CENTRES OF PRODUCTION Malaga and
Manises (lustreware), Puente del Arzobispo, Talavera de la Reina, Alcora
Marks
Early lustreware is never marked; Talavera: wares Were never marked before the 19th century; later they were frequently marked with the full name
Alcora factory wares (1727–c.1785) marked in manganese brown

Dining silver
Plates, salvers, tureens, and other items of dining silver first appeared in the late 17th century, when the complete dinner service, NN ith matching dishes and cutlery, was introduced at the French court. From that period, and especially in the 18th century, elaborate dining silver in the latest fashions was often used to display the wealth and status of the host, and finely engraved coats of arms or crests, identifying the owner, are common features of items such as salvers. For collectors today, heavy and elaborately decorated items including tureens and centrepieces are generally more rare and expensive than flatware, utilitarian drinking vessels such as tankards, and casters, cruets, mustard-pots, and salt-cellars, all available in a great variety of styles.
Plates and salvers
Dinner services, comprising individual plates and cutlery as well as serving dishes for specific courses and foods, were first introduced at the French court in the late 17th -century. Initially they were the preserve of royalty and the aristocracy, but the fashion for complete services spread in the early 18th century to the minor nobility and gentry, who often acquired different parts of the service over a period of time as their finances allowed. Silver plates, of various sizes, were generally made in sets of 12 (and are normally sold as such today). On both plates and salvers, the main decorative feature is usually the engraved coat of arms or crest of the owner, and sometimes the engraving is of very high quality.
PLATES
The earliest plates found on the market today tend to date from the early 18th century, when the first complete dinner services were made. These plates are seldom larger than 25cm (10in) in diameter and are starkly plain, except for a crest or coat of arms engraved on the broad, flat rim. Marks on these plates are generally found on the underside of the rim and should be clearly visible.
Missing or distorted marks usually indicate that the
plate has been altered; new borders may have been added and the rim reshaped to accommodate them.
More common than early 18th-century
plates are those dating from the 1740s
onward. During this time the fashion
for complete dinner services, unified by
matching ornament, reached its peak
and the custom of dining on a grand scale
necessitated services of up to 200 pieces. The standard service included six dozen meat plates, generally 25cm (10in) in
diameter (first-course and dessert plates were slightly smaller), and two dozen soup plates. Larger oval dishes for serving roasts were also made en suite.
Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century plates vary little in design except for the borders. During the 1730s the broad, plain, flat rim was replaced by a narrower, wavy rim (giving the plate a five-sided appearance) with gadrooning. With the development of the Rococo style in the 1740s, shell and gadrooned borders became most common; some of the finest plates have separately cast and applied borders, which should be marked. Simpler patterns of reed-and-tie or beading became fashionable in the 1770s and 1780s. The more elaborate gadroon, shell, and foliage border is characteristic of the Regency period. After about 1840 porcelain services were more popular than silver, and most silver plates made were replacements for or additions to earlier services.
17TH- TO EARLY 18TH-CENTURY SALVERS
Dating from the mid-17th century, the earliest salvers were of thin-gauge metal with a raised central foot, and were made as stands for porringers or candle cups. The finest examples were gilded and richly chased and embossed around the border with acanthus leaves, fruit, and flowers in the Dutch Baroque style. From (.1680 to (.1720 heavier-gauge metal was used, and the central foot, sometimes detachable, was often strengthened with applied cut-card work. In the 1720s the central foot was replaced by three or four small cast (usually bracket) feet, eet, especially on the rarer square, octagonal, or octafoi I -sh aped salvers popular during this period. Salvers before c.1740 often had moulded and applied rims of convex and concave curves.
LATER 18TH- AND 19TH-CENTURY SALVERS
Like plates, salvers from (.1740 onward are generally circular or five- or six-sided in shape, with only the borders and engraved armorials changing in style. On salvers, however, the armorials usually appear in
the centre rather than on the rim. The style of engraving should be contemporary with that of the border and correspond to the date of the marks. In the Baroque period, designs of arms and cartouches were relatively symmetrical, with strapwork and interlacing scrolls; the finest designs on English pieces were by Huguenot engravers such as the Gribelin fatuity.
In the mid-18th century, delicate, asymmetrical designs of flowers, shells, and scrolls reflected Rococo fashions. Salvers were particularly in demand for carrying tea and coffee services. Smaller versions, known as “waiters” (generally less than 20cm/8in in diameter),
ENGRAVING
Engraved designs were traditionally cut into the metal surface by hand with a sharp steel tool known as a “burin” or “graver”; today, most engraving is done
by machine. The technique was particularly popular for reproducing coats of arms, ciphers, and crests. Some of the finest engraving was done in early 18th-century England by such specialists as William Hogarth (1697-1764) and Simon Gribelin (1661-1733). The style of engraving can help to date a piece, but it is not always a reliable method as arms were often re-engraved with a change of ownership.
were also made, and sets of two or more salvers became common. The largest, measuring up to 38cm (15in would usually be engraved with a coat of arms; smaller ones (15-20cm/6-8in) had only a crest. Elaborate Rococo borders appeared, sometimes cast separately, featuring forward and reverse scrolls interspersed with shells, and feet took the form of scrolls or shells. The finest salvers were also flat-chased around the outer edge with designs of scrolls, shells, and foliage.
In the Neo-classical period more restrained borders of gadrooning, reeding, and beading, together with bright-cut engraving of ribbons, husks, and swags, were introduced. However, the taste for more ornate plate in the Regency period led to the appearance of large and heavy, often silver-gilt, salvers with paw feet and richly cast borders of shells, vine leaves, and gadrooning. Throughout the 19th century salvers in 18th-century styles were popular; some earlier salvers were also redecorated with chasing, but the 19th-century style is more elaborate and covers more of the flat surface than on 18th-century examples.

Beds
From the earliest times beds have been endowed with particular importance: as places of rest and privacy, or as symbols of power. The bed was
often the most important legacy, as it was regarded as a possession of consequence, representing the continuity of the family.
EARLY BEDS
The earliest European free-standing beds were basic structures comprising roofs, posts, and bases; the fabric hangings that decorated them were of greater value, and when noblemen moved around the country, they took their bedding, curtains, and valances with them, leaving behind the plain wooden construction. An early type of bed was the truckle or trundle bed on wheels, which conveniently slid under a standing bed when not being used by a servant. By the early 16th century most beds in northern Europe were made from oak; the heads were panelled and decorated with coats of arms, lozenges, chevrons, and lettering; squat, carved posts were placed at the corners, and testers (canopies) were added in the middle of the century. This form was replaced during the 17th century with a beech frame, with tester, ornate cornice, and a back covered in the same fabric as the curtains. On grand beds the posts were tall and more slender, with luxurious hangings crowned with finials, covered with the same material as the valance, from which issued ostrich feathers. More ordinary beds were hung with cloth, linen, or moreen.
18TH-CENTURY BEDS
British beds became more subdued at the beginning of the 18th century. Cornices became straight and projecting, and fringes and tassels disappeared in favour of plain trimmings. “Angel”, or half-tester, beds, without posts at the foot, imitating the French lit a la duchesse, retained the height of their four-poster counterparts.
The panelled back was reintroduced on mahogany bedsteads of the first half of the century, with cabriole legs ending in lion’s-paw feet, and slender posts with vase-shaped plinths replacing silk-covered uprights. By 1775 the cornice had become simple in outline, straight or serpentine, still complemented by vase finials at the four corners; the surface was carved and/or gilded, and cheaper wood frames, such as beech, were painted. On Neo-classical beds the posts were often very elaborately carved with such ornament as fluting, paterae, lion masks, and acanthus. Red damask and moreen were the favoured materials for ordinary beds, although in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide (1788-94) George Hepplewhite (d.1786) recommended the use of white dimity for “an effect of elegance and neatness”. Late 18th-century beds had a much lighter feel, with decoration taking the form of narrow, fluted posts delicately carved with wheat ears or husks or painted with ribbons and garlands of flowers. These clean light lines were echoed in the Federal period beds made in North America by such makers as Samuel McIntire (1757-1811) in Salem, Massachusetts, and Duncan Phyfe (1768-1854) in New York, the posts often decorated with Classical urn-form turnings with delicate reeding. Hangings were based on the designs in The Cabinet Dictionary (1803) by Thomas Sheraton (1751-1806) and Hepplewhite’s The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide.
19TH-CENTURY BEDS
Beds in the French Empire style, particularly lits en bateau, are usually richly and exquisitely decorated in a restrained manner; the structure had large unbroken panelled surfaces veneered in both light and dark woods, which were sometimes used in combination, and decorative themes, usually represented in ormolu, included oak, laurel, and olive wreaths, shields, helmets, swans, lions, sphinxes, and vine-leaves. Beds were made in two principal types, both of which were meant to be placed in alcoves and seen from the side; therefore only one of the four faces was properly decorated. The first type was influenced by the beds of the Louis XVI era, with straight uprights in columnar or pilaster form, no roof or curtains or excess fabric, but lavishly decorated with bronze mounts. The second type was the lit en bateau, as it vaguely resembled a small boat, with two straight ends of equal height, and rolled over, linked by a steeply curved traverse. Both types were sometimes overhung with canopies in the style of earlier fashions. This is a type of bed particularly associated with the Biedermeier period.
The Empire style was the most important influence on English beds of the early 19th century, and numerous examples can be found in A Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (1808) by George Smith (active c.1786-1828), and in the journal Repository of Arts (1809-28) by Rudolf Ackermann (1764-1834). The desired goal was to achieve “tasteful simplicity” by having less drapery; mahogany, or rosewood posts decorated with bronzed or gilded “Grecian ornaments”; domed testers, and hangings of red, yellow, or blue silk or calico trimmed with lace or a fringe. By the 1820s the French couch form beneath a canopy was used, although this fashion was short lived.
Throughout the later 19th century revivalism dominated fashions. ln Italy the Renaissance Revival, known as “Dantesque”, was interpreted in heavily carved beds and others decorated with ally certosina, a style of ivory and bone inlay, which had been popular in the 16th century. In North America such firms as Berkey & Gay (est. 1859) in Grand Rapids, Michigan, designed suites of bedroom furniture in the Renaissance Revival style, while the firm of Prudent Mallard (1809-79) made high-post beds at his workshop (est. 1838) in New Orleans. In Britain the “Jacobethan” Revival gave rise to the production of heavily carved four-poster beds. Tubular brass was used for bedsteads from the 1820s, and as manufacturing techniques improved during the century, cast-iron beds were made. Iron campaign beds, first made in the early 19th century, were designed to be easily assembled and transported for use on the battlefield.
• ALTERATIONS four-poster beds have often been reduced in height because of changing circumstances; check that the decoration and carving continue up the piece completely; also check to see where any reductions have been made, as the frames may have been cut to make the bed narrower or have added sections of wood to make the bed wider or longer — look along the rails for tell-talc signs in the colour and wear of the timber.
• MADE-UP BEDS these can be made up of elements from other beds, and usually it is only the front posts that will be original; the most commonly found made-up beds are tester beds from the 16th and 17th centuries.