A Repair Case Study

I recently came across the Web site of a wonderful English majolica restorer, Edge Conservation-Restoration Services in Liverpool, England.
Featured on their site is their restoration of a Holdcroft sugar bowl.

 The first step in the repair is the removal of the old repair.

The pieces are separated and all the old glue removed.
The piece is reglued using an acrylic resin.
Missing pieces were recreated using a polyfill or Plaster of Paris. Missing glaze was mimicked with a colored epoxy paste.
Retouching with dry pigments and a water borne ceramic glaze finish the process. The entire piece is covered with a protective plastic polish.

Here is the finished piece.

This is really extraordinary work!

If you would like to learn more about their services or wish to contact them about your own restoration project, visit their Web site: http://www.edgeconservation-restoration.com/File/category.asp?id=2

Majolica Spotlight: Grape and Strawberry Plates

One of the most commonly available majolica plate designs is the Grape and Strawberry plate. I don't know who did the original design. I remember reading once that it was a Copeland design but I've never really seen any confirmation of that.

Certainly the most famous examples are from Wedgwood. They made it in a number of different shapes and servers and a wide variety of color combinations including the Argenta color palette popular during the 1870's.

 

It's a pattern they've been making almost continuously from the late 1800's until recently, in every pottery type from majolica to yellowware to drabware to bone china. In the post-war 1940's they reintroduced a majolica line with a distinctive yellow ground that has proven to be just as popular as the Victorian original.

I have a set of these in white bone china that I bought new twenty years ago and have used regularly ever since. Wedgwood even created a matching line of bone dinnerware called Strawberry and Vine that has proven popular on it's own.

But Wedgwood was not alone in making this pattern. It was one of the most commonly copied patterns made in majolica. Both Gustafsberg and Brownfield made beautiful examples that match the finest of Wedgwood's examples.

There were also numerous smaller potteries both in the US and Britain that made their own
examples of the plate.

In all of its incarnations, it's a great design that has proven it's durability and one that deserves a place in the pantheon of great majolica patterns.

Merry Christmas Majolica

Christmas was a lavish setting for Victorians but there are surprisingly not that many pieces of majolica specifically designed for Christmas use.

The most famous to my mind would be the George Jones Punch bowl. With its holly and berries surrounding the bowl, it is held up by the most famous children's puppet of all, Punch!

Minton made a couple of chargers for Christmas use, both festive enough for the most grand Christmas pudding!

 

George Jones made a wonderful pitcher with old St. Nick at the spout and Minton made a lively Christmas pitcher festooned with holly.

Minton as well as other British potteries made covered servers with holly decoration that would be appropriate for the Christmas table.

Geoge Jones also made several other dishes with holly decoration that would also be appropriate for a Christmas gathering.

Of course other potteries made holly decorated items as well.

 

It's somewhat surprising that one of the most desirable pieces with a Christmas theme was made by an American company, Eureka. Their famous "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year" plate is as famous as it is elusive. Heavily reproduced, finding an original to buy is a once or twice in a lifetime opportunity. Maybe you'll find one under your Christmas tree this year!

From us here at Glazed and Confused we wish you all the happiest holiday ever!

It's Good to be Back Online

After surviving the move from Hell and over a week without cable or Internet access, I've finally gotten Online again.

It's been a terribly tiring move, complicated by a moving truck that broke down on the Bayonne Bridge en route to my new place, but now that I'm settled in I finally get to the good part! There's nothing more fun than finding new ways to display my majolica in my new home!

I must admit to a bit of indulgence on my part as well. I bought myself a housewarming gift of a George Jones Strawberry plate. What a nice new way to break in my new place!

Warm Thanks on a Chilly Night.

I want to thank everyone who came to my talk on Etruscan Majolica in Phoenixville on Wednesday evening.

As you might expect from the home of Etruscan Majolica, it was an educated crowd who engaged us in some lively discussion after the presentation. It's nice to see the locals keeping alive the history of those who made the town of Phoenixville what it is today. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to see the expanded Clegg room at the Historical Society museum now devoted specifically to majolica and to the memory of Miriam Clegg, who was such a wonderful contributor to the history of the area and to my books. I will certainly make an effort to drop by on my next visit to Pennsylvania.

I want to give out special thanks to the family of David Smith who came by with some very kind words about the presentation and the books. They were a great source of information while I was assembling the materials for the books and I was particularly pleased that they liked the final result. It was really wonderful seeing them again.