A look at the design, market and legacy of Victorian pottery

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Massier Floral Form Majolica

The Massier family made such a variety of elegant, fanciful majolica that it's hard to focus on just one subject when writing about them, but for me the floral form pieces were unique among majolica manufacturers.
Where all members of the family made majolica, they also each had their own special biases. Clement Massier, probably the best known of the group, pioneered the use of metallic and iridescent glazes for earthenware. Jerome favored majolica human and animal forms while Delphine loved plants. It is from Delphine we get the largest variety of floral majolica.
The Massiers made  everything imaginable in a floral form from dishes to wall pockets to clocks. The most extravagant of the floral pieces had to be the jardiniėrs particularly those with matching pedestals. Today these sell for thousands of dollars and are hard to find outside of France. But when you do, they are a treat to behold!











Other floral pieces from the family are beautiful but more reasonably priced, like the plates, vases and clocks. Of course there are always exceptions like the beautiful orchid vase below with the butterfly which recently sold for several thousands of dollars.













Page from the Massier catalog showing some of their offerings

If these appeal to you now is the time to buy because Massier is currently the hottest name in majolica and the prices will only skyrocket with time.



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