The Green Man in Majolica Ceramics

So, who is the Green Man? Well, there’s no easy answer to that. Although the term itself wasn’t coined until 1939, the Green Man has been around us for centuries. Entire books have been written about him. 

The Green Man is a decorative motif dating back to ancient times. Its origin is muddled. It is sometimes in reference to a religious figure and sometimes a reference to a pagan figure.

Statue of Dionysus

In Mesopotamia and Egypt he represented a god who died and was reborn each year. With his connection to wine and grape leaves the face of Dionysus was represented in Greek art surrounded by grape vines and foliage, often thought to be a basis for the Green Man in ancient Western art. The face also appears in ancient Indian and Middle Eastern art and appears as early as the 4th century in French art. Soon the Green Man developed multiple mythical associations appearing in Wiccan art and religious art everywhere. By the 12th century, motifs showing a human face entirely created of vegetation appeared in Northern European Celtic art becoming a recurring motif through the Dark Ages.

Byzantine mosaic from Istanbul

2nd Century Green Man from Iraq

Sometimes it was a representative of the good in man and sometimes the evil. Sometimes it related to man’s connection to the natural world. There is simply no one definition of who the Green Man is. It depends on the source and the context. 

One trope that is constant in all art is that people are attracted to images of the human face. It is an evolutionary part of our identity. With this kind of universal presence the decorative arts inevitably accepted him as well.

Tiffany silver flask with the Green Man.

19th century Green Man savonarola chair

19th century Green Man chair, originally painted green

The motif developed Christian associations with its adoption by the Western church with the vegetation representing the crucifix and foliage meaning resurrection. Representations of the Green Man appear in Medieval Gothic churches throughout Europe.

14th century carved stone corbel of a Green Man, 

at Ottery St. Mary Church in Devon

15th century Green Man at Norwich Cathedral

14th century Green Man in the Lady Chapel at Exeter Cathedral, England

All Saints’ Church, Sharrington, Norfolk, England

Abbey church, Kappel am Albis Switzerland

Collegiate Church Sankt Marien, Herrenberg Germany

Bamberg Cathedral, Germany

Norwich Cathedral England

Amanduskirche, Bad Urach Germany

Wikipedia has this facial trope broken down into three basic types:

• The Foliate Head, which is completely comprised of leaves.
• The Disgorging Head, which spews vegetation from its mouth
• The Bloodsucker Head, which spews vegetation from all facial orifices

The interest in Neo Gothic design spearheaded by Sir Charles Barry and by Augustus Pugin in the middle of the 19th century revived the Green Man from Medieval obscurity and he began to appear in European art and design of all types including ceramics where the potteries of Europe embraced him.

Schiller & Sohn majolica vase

Schiller & Sohn majolica jardiniere

Schiller & Sohn ewer

Schiller majolica vase

Schiller & Sohn majolica vase

Schiller majolica vase side view

Schiller majolica stein

Schiller majolica ewer

Schiller & Sohn ewer

Schiller majolica jardiniere

Detail from Schiller & Sohn majolica ewer

Detail from Schiller & Sohn majolica ewer

Gerbing & Stephan majolica centerpiece 

Gerbing & Stephan majolica ewer

Gerbing & Stephan majolica ewer

Zsolnay majolica  Renaissance Revival urn

Lonitz majolica compote

Lonitz majolica center

Lonitz majolica center

Lonitz majolica mirror

Nimy majolica jardiniere

Onnaing majolica jardiniere

Nimy majolica jardiniere

French majolica jardiniere

French majolica jardiniere 

Copeland majolica Renaissance Revival Vase

Copeland Renaissance Revival majolica vase

Minton majolica Diana jug

Front of the Minton Diana jug

Wedgwood majolica Gothic Revival Doric vase

English majolica jardiniere

He also appeared in American art pottery.

Green Man McCoy jardiniere

The Green Man pops up unexpectedly in majolica quite often, mostly in Renaissance Revival and Gothic Revival style pieces. It is frequently heavily disguised within a design, so take a look at your collections. If you see a face staring back at you, you now know why he is there and who he is!

Mythology and Majolica

The release of Christopher Nolan’s mammoth production of “The Odyssey” has inspired new interest in Greek mythology. Having grown up being told these tales as a child and later reading mythological Greek tales as a teenager, this is of particular interest to me. The origins of Greek myth are older than the events of The Odyssey, and the influence of the gods, particularly Athena and Poseidon, play a major role in Homer’s tale. 

In an attempt to make the events more relatable to modern audiences, this particular screen version of the story plays down their presence but they are intrinsically part of it. Athena’s anger instigated the Trojan War after Paris chose Aphrodite over her as the most beautiful goddess and Poseidon’s anger over the blinding of his son, Polyphemus, obstructed Odysseus from returning home.

Ancient Greek vase depicting Odysseus’s 

blinding of Polyphemus 

A love of neo classicism was at its peak in the middle of the 19th century, hence mythological figures abound in the decorative arts of the time. 

Helen of Troy by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1863)

Majolica was no exception. An example originally created for a Minton 24” majolica charger relating to the Trojan War is below. From the Minton Archive:

“In the story Paris, a Trojan shepherd, is asked by Zeus, king of the Gods, to judge which of three goddesses – Aphrodite, Athena, or Hera – should be awarded a golden apple inscribed “For the fairest one”. The artwork shows the moment Paris presents the apple to Aphrodite, who had offered the world’s most beautiful woman, Helen of Sparta, in return. His acceptance of this offer would ultimately bring about the Trojan War.”

Originally painted for a 24” charger, this study is a drawing of The Judgment of 

Paris by Thomas Kirby for Minton from a Raphael Sadeler print.

One of the finest examples of Greek mythology in majolica is Minton’s monumental Prometheus vase. Done in the Greek taste, there is an example at the Philadelphia Museum of Art decorated by Silas Rice in the ancient sgraffito style, the body covered with mythological figures

Minton majolica Prometheus urn

It is one of several examples created by Minton with different types of decoration. For more information on the Prometheus vase go to my blog post which discusses it more in detail here.

Mythological figures are everywhere in the majolica of Victorian potteries. Satyrs and fauns are common themes. Drinking vessels and amphora styled vases are often decorated with Dionysus, (Bacchus), and Maenads. Dionysus is often displayed as a satyr in these vessels.

Minton majolica decorated wine ewer with satyrs

Minton majolica Selenus jug

Minton satyr loving cup

Minton majolica satyr ewer

Minton majolica satyr vase

Wedgwood majolica figure of a Bacchante

Wedgwood majolica Dionysus 

Minton majolica Dionysis ewer front

George Jones majolica faun sweetmeat 

Minton majolica Dionysis and nereid ewer side

George Jones majolica faun

Wedgwood majolica satyr wall match striker

Copeland majolica faun center

Minton majolica faun center

Minton majolica jardiniere with faun handles

Rörstrand majolica satyr and griffin compote

Minton majolica faun wall brackets

Wedgwood Satyr majolica dessert stand

Wedgwood satyre wine ewer

Schiller & Sohn majolica satyr pitcher

Sarreguemines majolica faun vase

Zsolnay majolica satyr handled jug

Schiller & Sohn Dionisio center

Royal Worcester majolica fauns and putti planter

Other gods and goddesses are also present: Nereids (mermaids) and Tritons; Hermes (Mercury); Eros (Cupid); griffins and assorted other mythological characters and creatures.

Minton majolica Flower Bearers.

Royal Worcester majolica nereid

Minton triton majolica vase

Minton majolica Eros riding a vase

George Jones majolica Eros riding a dolphin

Wedgwood majolica triton sweetmeat

Unattributed tritons majolica master salt

Wedgwood majolica triton candlesticks

Holdcroft majolica nereid ewer, an adaptation 

of a Minton design

Eichwald majolica nereid and satyr center

Minton majolica triton centerpiece

Wedgwood majolica triton water ewer

Continental majolica nereids compote

Schiller majolica nereids vase

Sarreguemines majolica triton vase

Minton tritons jardiniere

Minton majolica nereid and putto jug

Unattributed majolica sardine box

Continental nereid fish platter

George Jones majolica sphinx center 

Jones majolica sphinx candlestick

Brown-Westhead Moore sphinx garden seat

Gerber & Stephan majolica sphinx

Royal Worcester majolica griffin.

Schiller & Sohn majolica griffen compote

Gerber & Sntephan majolica griffin

Wedgwood majolica jug, Minerva's Helmet

Unattributed majolica hippocampus master salts

Wedgwood majolica hippocampus jug

Wedgwood majolica hippocampus dessert stand

George Jones majolica hippocampus vase

Minton cherub on hippocampus 

Eichwald majolica hippocampus center

Minton majolica Eros on a dolphin

Minton majolica Eros and Aphrodite tile

Minton majolica plaque of Eros and Aphrodite

Minton majolica Eros jug

Minton majolica Cupid Potter

Minton majolica Hebe and the eagle

Royal Worcester majolica Hebe figural

Royal Worcester majolica figure, Britomartis

Continental majolica Leda and swans

Czech majolica Leda and the swan (Helen of Troy’s parents) signed F. Otto

French Palissy Medusa vase

Minton majolica Diana jug

Minton majolica figure of Chloris, the goddess of summer

Minton majolica jardiniere with mythological scene

Minton majolica vase with mythological scene by Thomas Kirby

Copeland majolica rape of Persephone urn

Copeland majolica mythological scene

Unattributed majolica classical figural busts

Minton majolica plaque with various gods and goddesses, decorated by Émile Lessore

Minton majolica plaque with various gods and goddesses, decorated by Thomas Kirby

Minton majolica “Cupid stealing the Thunder from Jupiter” by Thomas Kirby

Even the Americans got in on the fad with the Pandora series by the Phoenixville, Pennsylvania Etruscan Works.

Etruscan Majolica Pandora plate with Pandora and Hermes

Etruscan Majolica Pandora series bowl with Eros riding a panther

As for Christopher Nolan's movie, one can only hope that it will cause more people to read Homer’s original works, The Iliad and The Odyssey

To view a trailer for Nolan’s movie “The Odyssey” go here.