Seeing Red

My favorite color is red. It has been since I was a child. My living room is red too as have been most of the cars I've owned. This puts me to a great disadvantage as a majolica collector because majolica manufacturers hate red. I don't really know why, they just do. Maybe red was just not very popular in the late 1800's.

Maybe I should qualify my statement and say that English majolica manufacturers hate red. It's very rare to see majolica by any of the major English potters with much red on them. They did use red as an accent color though quite a bit, it just was rarely used as a primary color.

Fielding majolica crescent oyster plate

Samuel Lear majolica Lily jug

Wedgwood Chrysanthemum butter pat

Of course, for every general statement there is the occasional exemption, though they are few and far between.

Minton majolica jardiniere

In its final majolica manufacturing years, Wedgwood had a couple of red color palettes they used on their majolica, but these were pretty late in the game.

Wedgwood majolica Fan garden seat

Wedgwood Luther butter dish

Wedgwood majolica Luther cheese bell

Wedgwood majolica Ocean platter

Wedgwood majolica Chrysanthemum cheese bell

Wedgwood majolica Lincoln plate

Things were different on the continent however, because the French, Austrians and the Germans LOVED red and incorporated it in their majolica quite a bit.

Villeroy & Boch water lily plate

Villeroy & Boch majolica lily of the valley plate

Austrian majolica frog humidor

Austrian majolica cat humidor

Julius Dressler majolica garden seat

It also became their favorite color for lining hollowware. Onnaing used red liberally in these pieces below.

Onnaing majolica Roses Tremieres pitcher

Onnaing majolica Clématites pitcher

Onnaing majolica Flamand pitcher

Onnaing Mogador jardiniere

Onnaing Roses Moussues jardiniere

In the United States, the Etruscan Works used red early in their production life, but soon fazed it out in favor of the pastels for which they became famous.

So, with the exception of a couple of Etruscan pieces, most of the majolica in my living room is not red... but I'm always looking for that exception to add to my collection!