www.MajolicaSociety.com

The Quarterly Publication of the Majolica International Society

Celebrating Joan Graham

Members gathered with Joan Graham to celebrate the society’s efforts to raise the profile of majolica through the Bard lecture series. Hip, Hip Hurray!!!!!!

Inside this issue:

• Maiolica and Majolica in Victorian England • FDR’s Springwood • Elephants for Sale! Fact or Fiction? • Albino Majolica • The French Souvenir • Skinner, Auction, July 14, 2012

Pair Minton Cherubs on Sea Horses, c. 1863, Estimate $10,000-15,000 • Christies, Auction, June 7, 2012

Minton Wine Cooler with fox & bear heads and draped pelts, the sides molded with views hunters capturing a bear, Estimate $3,000-5,000 • 30th Anniversary: “English Majolica” – 1982 • Caged

April 2012

Majolica Matters Maiolica and Majolica in Victorian England

Family and friends attended the first Joan Stacke Graham lecture

presented at the Bard Graduate Center. From left to right Jill Graham (photographer for Majolica, A Complete

History), Joan Stacke Graham, Bennett Weinstock, and Ed Flower.

The first Joan Stacke Graham lecture was given at the Bard Graduate Center, New York City, on April 24, 2012 by Timothy Wilson, Keeper of Western Art at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and Professor of the Arts of the Renaissance at Oxford University. The speaker, a specialist in Italian Renaissance ceramics, began by noting that in British English, if not universally in American English, there is an established distinction between Renaissance maiolica and Victorian Majolica.

Lecturer, Professor Timothy Wilson, Bard President, Susan Weber with

Phil English and MIS President, Laurie Wirth

Continued to Page 2

MAJOLICA MATTERS Page 2 April 2012

Continued from Page 1 He recalled how over a dozen years ago he had accosted a jogger in Central Park wearing a tee-shirt with the words MAJOLICA MATTERS and had on that occasion first learnt about the Society. By happy chance, the person stopped on that occasion revealed herself at the lecture as none other than Joan Stacke Graham. The word maiolica was originally used in early Renaissance Italy to describe Spanish lusterware, made by potters of Islamic descent near Valencia, and imported into Italy. The word may have arisen from a misunderstanding of the Spanish phrase for lusterware, obra de malaca, “Malaga ware”, which Italian merchants in Valencia wrongly supposed to refer to the more familiar island of Maiorca. In due course the word came to denote lustred pottery made in Italy, and ultimately any of the tin-glazed earthenware which became a vivid expression of Italian Renaissance art. Mid-nineteenth-century London and Paris witnessed a collecting boom for Renaissance maiolica and spectacularly high prices. The Museum of Ornamental Art, founded in 1852, from which grew today’s Victoria and Albert Museum, systematically collected it. According to Henry Cole, it was J.C. Robinson, later curator of the Museum, who, while working at the School of Design in Stoke-on-Trent about 1847-1849, gave Herbert Minton the idea for Majolica: “This branch of manufacture was created by these art collections; for Mr. Minton, before these art collections commenced with the Schools of Design, did not make anything of the sort. The first person who called his attention to it was the present Keeper of the Art Collections Mr. Robinson”. Later, the Museum provided models for Thomas Kirkby and other Minton artists. Professor Wilson discussed examples of Minton Majolica painted by Kirkby in more or less close imitation of Italian maiolica, as well as imitations of other fashionable collectables, Palissy ware and Saint-Porchaire. Although Majolica is not tin-glazed, and therefore not maiolica, the stylistic influence was strong, especially in the 1850s. He concluded by pointing out that Minton Majolica can be seen in a European context. Minton’s plate with Queen Victoria and a maiolica plate made for the Florentine dealer Giovanni Freppa were both exhibited at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1855; the orange-ground borders are in the manner of Sienese maiolica of about 1520. Whether Minton was copying Freppa, or Freppa copying Minton, or

whether they have a common source, remains an unresolved issue.

Plate with Barbarossa, painted by an artist of the Ginori factory for Giovanni Freppa, Doccia or Florence, 1854-5. Victoria and Albert Museum

(acquired from the Exposition Universelle, 1855).

Plate with Queen Victoria, painted by Thomas

Kirkby, Minton, Stoke-on-Trent, 1854-1855. Victoria and Albert Museum (acquired from the Exposition

Universelle, 1855). MIS Member Attendee Comment: “Oh, you should ‘a been there! It was wonderful! And Joan was stunning…even more beautiful than usual.” The lecture was profoundly interesting, even if the connection to Majolica sometimes seemed tenuous.”

MAJOLICA MATTERS Page 3 April 2012

Phil English, Carole Harkess, Joy Hyerman, Director of Development, PhD. in 19th Century American Art,

and Deborah English The Society applauds all the members who attended the lecture in NYC and realizes that all members could not be in attendance. Several of you suggested recording either the sound or video of the lecture. We are in the process of acquiring a sound recording of the lecture which we will hopefully be able to share with the membership.

FDR’s Springwood In March we received the following email from MIS member, Lorraine Halpern, Delray Beach, Florida, letting us know about this article from January 2012 New England Antiques Journal with this information. “On page 83, notice the dining room hutch in FDR house in Hyde Park N.Y. is full of majolica! That would make a great story!” So below is some information and photos

Springwood By Barbara and Ken Beem All images by Bill Urbin (National Park Service) As a major venue for the upcoming Summer Olympics, the eyes of the world will no doubt be on Hyde Park. This London Park will be visited, photographed and viewed by millions of people as it takes its place in the spotlight on the world’s stage. But in the 1930s and ‘40s, it was a different Hyde Park that found itself at the center of the country’s, and sometimes the world’s, attention. Surrounded by homes of the rich and famous, this quiet Hudson River Valley town was catapulted to unprecedented fame and prominence because of its most powerful resident, Franklin Roosevelt. For Hyde Park, New York, was the home of the man who led America on the road back from the Great Depression and then steered the country through World War II. Today, the story of the life and times of the 32nd president of the United States unfolds on a 290-acre national historic site, six miles north of Poughkeepsie.

And “Springwood,” as his home is called, continues to welcome visitors. No matter where life’s paths took him, Franklin Roosevelt considered his family’s Hyde Park, New York, estate to be home. The final resting place of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, just steps away from the room in which he was born. In the background stands the FDR Presidential Library which reflects the typical architecture of the Hudson River Valley..

Snow “caps” the final resting place of President

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

FDR’s dining room hutch appears to have two of the monumental George Jones tobacco leaf platters with an unidentified jardinière in the center of the table

Please send your comments and material for the newsletter to:

Wanda Matthes

3801 Indigo Drive Plano, Texas

Phone: 972 – 596 - 2964 eMail: Wanda@eMajolica.com

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Elephants for SALE! Fact or Fiction? by Duane Matthes Posted on the Internet: Sunday 30 October, 2011 Million Dollar Dandy Reveals 1889 Elephants Worth Nine Million.

Million Dollar Dandy Photo of Elephants for Sale

The English brand Million Dollar Dandy revealed today a pair of unique, ornamented elephants worth nine million dollars, manufactured more than one hundred years ago. Standing seven feet high, they were crafted by the Minton factory in Staffordshire, England, for The Great 1889 Exhibition in Paris and to celebrate the opening of the Eiffel tower, these unique pieces are currently on offer by David Frosdick, founder of www.milliondollardandy.com, with a price tag of approximately over $9,000,000. “The iconic 1889 elephants would grace a corporate building or embassy and are a unique piece of English history with provenance,” stated David Frosdick, founder and CEO of Million Dollar Dandy. “We have received over a dozen expressions of interest from a diverse range of prospective clients, wanting to enjoy the experience only we can offer, and only money can buy. The unique Million Dollar Dandy experience will painstakingly complement each single piece just as the brush strokes of a master capture the essence of his inspiration,” he added. “There are a couple of rumors and one marvelous, solid story behind these elephants. I’m only willing to share it with the person interested enough in these unique collectables,” he added. Created by Frosdick of London, Million Dollar Dandy comprises an extensive coordinated wardrobe of bespoke suits, bespoke formal shirts and complementary silk ties, shoes and boots and an

almost decadent selection of luxurious silk velvet smoking jackets and silk dressing gowns. It is worth mentioning that Million Dollar Dandy is an opulent dream come true for a select few and comprises custom motoring, jewel encrusted crystal collectables, an extensive collection of the finest bespoke clothing and footwear available only to the world’s elite. So we ask ourselves is it Fact or Fiction? $9,000,000???? The sales ads may have been fiction but here are facts. We know the Elephants exist and that a pair are at the fine Thomas Goode & Company shop that sells china and crystal in London. The shop moved to its premises at 19 South Audley Street, Mayfair in 1845. It sells the highest quality, and has three royal warrants. It's something of a hidden secret, being not on a main shopping street, but tucked away in the heart of Mayfair. Well worth exploring for its historic patterns and designs, and inspirational table settings. There are two splendid majolica elephants in the shop windows standing over seven feet high. They were produced by Minton for William Goode and displayed at the Paris exhibitions of 1878 and 1889. The elephants are still used to grace their web site at: http://www.thomasgoode.com/base.html

Goode & Company web page with the elephant

The far left and far right windows at the Thomas

Goode & Company shop contain Minton Elephants as found on Google’s Street View

So the ad is off the Million Dollar Dandy web space. Did they sell for Nine Million? Let us all know…is this fact or is it fiction?

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Albino Majolica by Dimitrios Bastas (printed with his permission) The very first thing I need to say is that I hate the term "albino majolica." I don't know who coined the phrase "albino majolica" - I've always attributed it to Charles Rebert - but for all I know it was a term in use before the publication of "American Majolica 1850-1900". One thing is certain though: his use of the term in his book was picked up by Mariann Katz-Marks in her original soft cover books on majolica, which were extremely influential in the formation of the American majolica market. From there it entered the collecting lexicon.

Compare examples of the George Jones Orchid

Dressing Table Tray What I dislike most about it is that it is a misnomer. "Albino majolica" is not majolica at all; it is decorated earthenware. A loose case can be made for describing luster glazed earthenware as majolica but it too does not fulfill one of the simple definitions of majolica: an earthenware body covered with an opaque tin glaze; covered again with colored glazes and fired a second time at a high temperature to fuse the colored glaze to the opaque under glaze. Decorated earthenware is

covered with a white slip and a transparent or opaque glaze. Lusters are applied on top of the glazed ware and fired at a low temperature. They wear off easily because they don't fuse with the glaze underneath; they sit on top of it. The same can be said of plain decorated earthenware. This is glazed then covered with firing enamels which are heated to fix the enamel color to the body. In neither case are these true majolica. The ware we call "albino majolica" is actually a copy of the decorated earthenwares made in England by companies like George Jones. Many of these used the same molds that produced majolica which may account for some of the confusion.

George Jones Pansy or Geranium Cheese Keeper

George Jones Wild Rose Cheese Keeper

With all that said, decorated earthenware can still be very beautiful. Probably the most famous decorated earthenware came from the Etruscan Works of Phoenixville. The Ivory Ware line is usually placed under the umbrella of the "albino" name along with the decorated earthenware Venecine, from the company. Ivory Ware was the company's version of the Belleek wares so popular at this time. Made with an eye towards capturing some of this market, the ware was a blatant imitation of Belleek in both glaze and subject matter. What the company could not capture with the thick earthenware body, was the translucent quality of porcelain that made Belleek so desirable. In spite of not marking most Ivory Ware - in the hope of confusing the consumer into thinking it was fine imported ware - it proved to be an unsuccessful

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product and never achieved the success their majolica and creamware would achieve.

Etruscan Works Ivory Ware line

The Etruscan decorated earthenware line Venecine, was among the most beautiful pottery this or any American company was making at the time. It's well known that the "majolica girls" took great pride in work that they did on this line since it required so much more skill than the majolica wares. The results speak for themselves.

Etruscan decorated earthenware Venecine plate

Etruscan decorated earthenware Venecine tea service It's unfortunate than none of these pieces are appreciated much by majolica collectors today. The

prices they bring are always just a small fraction of what a majolica example would bring.

Etruscan decorated earthenware Venecine Fern

Cheese Stand, with gold trim, 6” high

Etruscan decorated earthenware Venecine Thorn

pitcher, with gold trim, 3 3/8” high Other companies whose work is often included under the term "albino majolica" is Haynes' Avalon Faïence and Clifton Decor of the Chesapeake Pottery and Edward Bennet, both of Baltimore. These too are decorated earthenware although the French term "faïence" is sometimes used to describe this type of over-the-glaze enamel decoration as well.

Salad or Punch Bowl from Haynes' Avalon Faïence

of the Chesapeake Pottery, Baltimore, c. 1880’s

MAJOLICA MATTERS Page 7 April 2012

Platter from Clifton Decor of Haynes' Chesapeake

Pottery, Baltimore, c. 1879

Syrup from the Edward Bennet Pottery, Baltimore

Like the decorated earthenware of the Etruscan Works, prices and demand for these is generally quite weak. So where does this leave the modern collector? Like any other antique, I would suggest buying what you like. There are great bargains to be found in these types of wares if the savvy collector just keeps his eyes open. Although they'll never achieve the prices nor the popularity of true majolica, they are still beautiful and an integral part of Victorian pottery history. Photo credits to: Ancient Objects; Madelena Antiques; Majolica Auctions; Michigan Online Auctions; Majolica International Society; Phoenixville Historical Society; Timber Hill Antiques. Special thanks to member Dimitrios Bastas for allowing us to reprint the article from his wonderful web site: www.etruscanmajolica.com

The French Souvenir, by Duane Matthes Years ago we owned the object below, a simple and beautiful Sarreguemines figural rose. I’m not sure where we found it, but we were happy we did, and happy that it was correctly marked. Because it had two small holes on the back, we felt that it was made to sit on a desk, table or even hang on a wall like a small plaque.

Sarreguemines figural rose, 7 ½” across

Sarreguemines figural rose back

During our 2011 visit to France as we told you last fall’s edition of Majolica Matters, we visited the Sarreguemines Museum and were allowed to view things on display and some things that were cataloged and displayed on storage shelves. One thing we saw was the Barbotine rose. There it was with more objects seemingly in the same theme. So we asked our museum guide, Christian Thevenin, what purpose

MAJOLICA MATTERS Page 8 April 2012

these objects served. His reply was, each item was a “Souvenir”. A colorful permanent decoration, a keepsake, a reminder, a token, or a relic to adorn a loved one’s burial plot. Lasting longer than cut flowers or even a potted plant.

The archived museum example of our rose is on the far right of this photo; alongside a wreath and cross.

Later that same vacation, we planned an morning to visit the huge tourist area of Montmartre, including the Basilique du Sacre Coeur and the surrounding artist villages, etc. It would be a full day of exploration. I examined the metro maps and we had our choice of several stops. On a prior vacation we had taken the long set of stairs that lead up to the front of Sacre Coeur.

Basilique du Sacre Coeur, Montmartre as viewed

from the Left Bank

Basilique du Sacre Cœur, Montmartre Street I wanted to do something different and chose a different metro stop. We emerged from the Lamarck – Caulaincourt Metro Stop, and we walked almost directly into the Cimetière St-Vincent. We thought we would start our adventure with a strole through the cemetery.

The beauty of Cimetière St-Vincent

Cimetière St-Vincent with the Basilique du Sacre

Coeur above left. The Cimetière St-Vincent was created in 1831 after the Calvary Cemetery became too full to bury anyone. It was one of the three cemeteries of Montmartre and covered twenty one acres of land. Now it covers about fifty nine acres. It is the final resting place for many well-known writers and artists. The Cimetiere St-Vincent offers a lovely view of The Sacre-Coeur and has over nine hundred graves in it. Famous writers that are interred here include Marcel Ayme, Roland Dorgeles, Gustave Victor Quinson. The graves of painters like Eugene Boudin, Theophile Steinlen, and Maurice Utrillo can also be located here. Who was buried there was immediately lost on me. I was looking a burial plots decorated with majolica floral arrangements. I respectfully walked from tomb to tomb photographing the French tradition of the burial souvenir. I’m sharing some of the photos with you, to acknowledge this century old tradition,

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including the last photo of a retail flower shop currently selling souvenirs.

Souvenir at Cimetière St-Vincent

Cross Souvenir at Cimetière St-Vincent

Majolica ceramic souvenir at Cimetière St-Vincent

rivaled by cut flowers in a simple temporary tin foil vase!

Wreath shaped souvenir with Barbotine floral at

Cimetière St-Vincent

Solitary floral souvenir at Cimetière St-Vincent

Back in the retail district a local flower shop has a shelf of contemporary ceramic souvenir’s for sale.

4

Save the Dates:

All plans are leading to the next Majolica International Society Convention to be in Chicago, Ill. in conjunction with The Merchandise Mart International Antiques Fair, April 26-28, 2013. You must be there!!

MAJOLICA MATTERS Page 10 April 2012

Skinner, Boston Action, July 14, 2012 An extensive collection of Victorian majolica will be sold as part of the July 14, 2012 auction of European Furniture & Decorative Arts featuring Fine Ceramics at Skinner in Boston. The auction features a major collection of over one hundred fine examples of majolica. Works of Minton will be featured, and the collection will include examples from some of Minton’s contemporary British and French competitors. A fine selection of Portuguese Palissy-type wares will also be offered. Contact: Skinner Inc., European Furniture & Decorative Arts 63 Park Plaza, Boston, MA 02116 European@skinnerinc.com Phone: 508-970-3203

Brownfield Majolica Vase, England, c. 1871-76,

Estimate $2,500-3,500

Minton Nautilus Shell Centerpiece, England, date

cipher 1874, Estimate $5,000-7,000

Christies, NYC Action, June 7, 2012 500 Years: Decorative Arts Europe Including Oriental Carpets, Sale 2566 at New York, Rockefeller Plaza 7 June 2012 Contact: Melissa Bennie Vice President, European Ceramics and Glass mbennie@christies.com Phone: 212 636 2215

Two George Jones Cheese Bells & Stands c. 1872,

with an English tobacco jar and cover, modeled as a thatched cottage. Estimate $10,000-15,000

Minton monogramed fountain, potentially made for

the London International Exhibition of 1862 Dated 1861-1862. Estimate $30,000-50,000

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30th Anniversary: “English Majolica” - 1982 by Duane Matthes

It was last year when Joan Graham showed me an envelope of 35mm prints and I said, “Wow, we should do something with these!.” They were old, faded and the Copper-Hewitt’s dark Exhibition Gallery was a historic venue, but not the ideal place for taking casual photos. So, now I share some of these old photos with you!

Andrew Carnegie Mansion is the NYC home of

Cooper-Hewitt Museum

Marilyn Karmason and Joan Stacke Graham were

two of the many contributors to the Majolica Exhibit March 23, 1982, David R. McFadden, Curator ofDecorative Arts at the Cooper Hewitt Museum,Smithsonian Intuition, NYC (a scholarly intuition witha great sense of style) organized the first museum exhibition of “English Majolica” in the United States.Marilyn Karmason and Joan Stacke Graham loaned

seventeen of the seventy objects presented in the exhibit. Their selections included game pie dishes ornamented with rabbits, quail, woodcocks and hunting dogs; tortoise-shell-patterned wares; basket like dishes for serving everything from salt to strawberries, and an urn embellished with lilies, birds and dragonflies.

A Minton Stork Stick Stand and a Holdcroft

Umbrella Stand opened the exhibit

Majolica items with Whieldon-type plate

Wedgwood argenta cheese keeper and napkin platter with unattributed Fish Eating Fish Tea Pot, etc.

Cheese keepers and a butter dish

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The exhibition documented the diverse influences that shaped Victorian majolica, including the interest a century and a half ago in natural forms… technological innovation, the Japanese esthetic and historical references from ancient Egypt onward. Since this was the first show in this country, and perhaps anywhere, of these mid 19th - and early 20th century ceramics (most of which were still in private hands) the selections on view represented the tip of the iceberg. An emerging, fullscale revival, would flush from the attics of England and America, specimens that equal, and even surpass, some of the examples in this exhibition. It took a band of passionate people like Marilyn, Joan, David and all the other collectors who made their treasures available for the exhibit, to unlock the truths of these whimsical ceramics.

Minton, Wedgwood and various other makers

Wedgwood’s Kate Greenway hat designs with pieces

by George Jones, Minton and a tiny cradle

Joan with exhibit items by Minton

Exhibit items by Minton, Holdcroft, etc.

Tankards by Minton and George Jones with the

George Jones Castle Cheese keeper

If an important beginning was 1982, with majolica collecting pioneers like Marylin, Joan, and David getting the ball rolling. Then 1989 was another huge event with Marylin and Joan authoring and publishing their book; “Majolica, A Complete History and Illustrated Survey” and they would ask David McFadden to authour the Forward of their historic book. Also in may of 1989 Marylin and Joan would pioneer again with their key and instrumental roles in the birthing and creationing our wonderful Majolica International Society.

Caged By Wanda Matthes

In the last issue of Majolica Matters we saw this loving couple at the end of David and Vicky Kobel’s 2011 Convention Member’s Presentation. In this edition, we find them “caged” at Snider Plaza Antiques

Shop, Dallas, Texas. Love birds doing what they do! The word “Matches” appears on the base…a double-entendre?