Majolica Spotlight: Vine and Strawberry Plates

One of the most commonly available majolica plate designs is the Vine 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. I know that Alcock made the pattern in majolica in the early 1850s which preceded Wedgwood's entrance into the majolica market but it's possible Wedgwood made the pattern in other bodies. 

I'm really not sure why it's called Vine and Strawberry either which is the name in the Wedgwood pattern books. "Grape and Strawberry" or "Leaf and Strawberry" would make more sense to me but then they never asked my opinion.

Certainly the most famous examples are from the afore mentioned 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. The Argenta color was available in two sizes.

It's a pattern they've been making almost continuously from the 1800s until recently, in every pottery type from solid green to majolica to yellowware to drabware to bone china. In the post-war 1940's they reintroduced a majolica line without lead glaze in a distinctive yellow ground that has proven to be just as popular as the Victorian original with collectors.

I have a set of these in white bone china that I bought new thirty 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.

Wedgwood bone china Strawberry & Vine

But Wedgwood was not alone in making this pattern. It was one of the most commonly copied patterns made in majolica. Gustavsberg, Davenport, Edge Malkin Co., and Brownfield made beautiful examples that match the finest of Wedgwood's examples.

Gustavsberg majolica grape plate

Brownfield majolica grape plate

There were also other potteries both in the US.and Britain that made their own examples of the plate. One of the earliest and rarest was Samuel Alcock who introduced their full color majolica example in the 1850s. The Arsenal pottery in the U.S. also made a simpler version in the late 1800s-early 1900s.

Samuel Alcock majolica grape ptale

Arsenal majolica grape plate

Today it is found in green glaze most frequently having been made in large quantities in that color by Wedgwood, Edge Malkin Co. and Davenport.

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.