The Quarterly Publication of the International Society

Majolica Matters www.MajolicaSociety.com April 2012

Celebrating Joan Graham

Maiolica and Majolica in Victorian England

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:

• and Majolica in Victorian England • FDR’s Springwood • Elephants for Sale! Fact or Fiction? • Albino Majolica • The French Souvenir

Family and friends attended the first Joan Stacke Graham lecture • Skinner, Auction, July 14, 2012 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 , began by noting that in British English, if not Pair Minton Cherubs on Sea Horses, c. universally in American English, there is an established distinction 1863, Estimate $10,000-15,000 between Renaissance maiolica and Victorian Majolica. • 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

Lecturer, Professor Timothy Wilson, Bard President, Susan Weber with • 30th Anniversary: “English Majolica” – Phil English and MIS President, Laurie Wirth 1982 • Caged Continued to Page 2

Continued from Page 1 whether they have a common source, remains an unresolved issue. 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 made in Italy, and ultimately any of the tin-glazed which became a vivid expression of Italian Renaissance art. Plate with Barbarossa, painted by an artist of the Ginori factory for Giovanni Freppa, Doccia or Mid-nineteenth-century London and Paris witnessed a Florence, 1854-5. Victoria and Albert Museum collecting boom for Renaissance maiolica and (acquired from the Exposition Universelle, 1855). 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 Plate with Queen Victoria, painted by Thomas therefore not maiolica, the stylistic influence was Kirkby, Minton, Stoke-on-Trent, 1854-1855. Victoria strong, especially in the 1850s. and Albert Museum (acquired from the Exposition Universelle, 1855). He concluded by pointing out that Minton Majolica can be seen in a European context. Minton’s plate MIS Member Attendee Comment: “Oh, you with Queen Victoria and a maiolica plate made for the should ‘a been there! It was wonderful! And Joan was Florentine dealer Giovanni Freppa were both stunning…even more beautiful than usual.” exhibited at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1855; the orange-ground borders are in the manner of The lecture was profoundly interesting, even if the Sienese maiolica of about 1520. Whether Minton was connection to Majolica sometimes seemed tenuous.” copying Freppa, or Freppa copying Minton, or

MAJOLICA MATTERS Page 2 April 2012 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..

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 Snow “caps” the final resting place of President us know about this article from January 2012 New Franklin Delano Roosevelt 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 FDR’s dining room hutch appears to have two of the monumental George Jones tobacco leaf platters with sometimes the world’s, attention. Surrounded by an unidentified jardinière in the center of the table 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, Please send your comments and material Franklin Roosevelt. For Hyde Park, New York, was for the newsletter to: the home of the man who led America on the road back from the Great Depression and then steered the Wanda Matthes country through World War II. 3801 Indigo Drive Plano, Texas Today, the story of the life and times of the 32nd Phone: 972 – 596 - 2964 president of the United States unfolds on a 290-acre eMail: [email protected] national historic site, six miles north of Poughkeepsie.

MAJOLICA MATTERS Page 3 April 2012 Elephants for SALE! Fact or Fiction? almost decadent selection of luxurious silk velvet by Duane Matthes smoking jackets and silk dressing gowns.

Posted on the Internet: Sunday 30 October, 2011 It is worth mentioning that Million Dollar Dandy is an opulent dream come true for a select few and Million Dollar Dandy Reveals 1889 Elephants Worth comprises custom motoring, jewel encrusted crystal Nine Million. 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 Million Dollar Dandy Photo of Elephants for Sale standing over seven feet high. They were produced by Minton for William Goode and displayed at the Paris The English brand Million Dollar Dandy revealed exhibitions of 1878 and 1889. The elephants are still used to today a pair of unique, ornamented elephants worth grace their web site at: nine million dollars, manufactured more than one http://www.thomasgoode.com/base.html 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, Goode & Company web page with the elephant

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. The far left and far right windows at the Thomas Goode & Company shop contain Minton Elephants Created by Frosdick of London, Million Dollar Dandy as found on Google’s Street View

comprises an extensive coordinated wardrobe of So the ad is off the Million Dollar Dandy web space. Did bespoke suits, bespoke formal shirts and they sell for Nine Million? Let us all know…is this fact or complementary silk ties, shoes and boots and an is it fiction?

MAJOLICA MATTERS Page 4 April 2012 Albino Majolica covered with a white slip and a transparent or opaque by Dimitrios Bastas (printed with his glaze. Lusters are applied on top of the glazed ware permission) and fired at a low temperature. They wear off easily because they don't fuse with the glaze underneath; The very first thing I need to say is that I hate the term they sit on top of it. "albino majolica." The same can be said of plain decorated earthenware. I don't know who coined the phrase "albino majolica" - This is glazed then covered with firing enamels which I've always attributed it to Charles Rebert - but for all I are heated to fix the enamel color to the body. In know it was a term in use before the publication of neither case are these true majolica. "American Majolica 1850-1900". One thing is certain The ware we call "albino majolica" is actually a copy of though: his use of the term in his book was picked up the decorated made in England by by Mariann Katz-Marks in her original soft cover companies like George Jones. Many of these used the books on majolica, which were extremely influential in same molds that produced majolica which may the formation of the American majolica market. From account for some of the confusion. there it entered the collecting lexicon.

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

Compare examples of the George Jones Orchid earthenware Venecine, from the company. Dressing Table Tray Ivory Ware was the company's version of the Belleek What I dislike most about it is that it is a misnomer. wares so popular at this time. Made with an eye "Albino majolica" is not majolica at all; it is decorated towards capturing some of this market, the ware was a earthenware. A loose case can be made for describing blatant imitation of Belleek in both glaze and subject luster glazed earthenware as majolica but it too does matter. What the company could not capture with the not fulfill one of the simple definitions of majolica: an thick earthenware body, was the translucent quality of earthenware body covered with an opaque tin glaze; porcelain that made Belleek so desirable. In spite of covered again with colored glazes and fired a second not marking most Ivory Ware - in the hope of time at a high temperature to fuse the colored glaze to confusing the consumer into thinking it was fine the opaque under glaze. Decorated earthenware is imported ware - it proved to be an unsuccessful

MAJOLICA MATTERS Page 5 April 2012 product and never achieved the success their majolica prices they bring are always just a small fraction of and creamware would achieve. what a majolica example would bring.

Etruscan decorated earthenware Venecine Fern Cheese Stand, with gold trim, 6” high 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 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 Etruscan decorated earthenware Venecine plate "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 Etruscan decorated earthenware Venecine tea service It's unfortunate than none of these pieces are appreciated much by majolica collectors today. The

MAJOLICA MATTERS Page 6 April 2012 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.

Platter from Clifton Decor of Haynes' Chesapeake Pottery, Baltimore, c. 1879

Sarreguemines figural rose, 7 ½” across

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 Sarreguemines figural rose back

International Society; Phoenixville Historical Society; During our 2011 visit to France as we told you last Timber Hill Antiques. fall’s edition of Majolica Matters, we visited the

Sarreguemines Museum and were allowed to view Special thanks to member Dimitrios Bastas for allowing us to reprint the article from his wonderful web site: things on display and some things that were cataloged www.etruscanmajolica.com 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 7 April 2012 these objects served. His reply was, each item was a Basilique du Sacre Cœur, Montmartre Street “Souvenir”. A colorful permanent decoration, a I wanted to do something different and chose a keepsake, a reminder, a token, or a relic to adorn a different metro stop. We emerged from the Lamarck – loved one’s burial plot. Lasting longer than cut Caulaincourt Metro Stop, and we walked almost flowers or even a potted plant. directly into the Cimetière St-Vincent. We thought we would start our adventure with a strole through the cemetery.

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 The beauty of Cimetière St-Vincent 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.

Cimetière St-Vincent with the Basilique du Sacre Coeur above left.

Basilique du Sacre Coeur, Montmartre as viewed The Cimetière St-Vincent was created in 1831 after the from the Left Bank 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,

MAJOLICA MATTERS Page 8 April 2012 including the last photo of a retail flower shop currently selling souvenirs.

Wreath shaped souvenir with Barbotine floral at Souvenir at Cimetière St-Vincent Cimetière St-Vincent

Solitary floral souvenir at Cimetière St-Vincent

Cross Souvenir at Cimetière St-Vincent

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

4 Save the Dates:

All plans are leading to the next Majolica International Society Convention to be in

Majolica ceramic souvenir at Cimetière St-Vincent Chicago, Ill. in conjunction with The rivaled by cut flowers in a simple temporary tin foil Merchandise Mart International Antiques vase! Fair, April 26-28, 2013. You must be there!!

MAJOLICA MATTERS Page 9 April 2012 Skinner, Boston Action, July 14, 2012 Christies, NYC Action, June 7, 2012

An extensive collection of Victorian majolica will be 500 Years: Decorative Arts Europe Including Oriental sold as part of the July 14, 2012 auction of European Carpets, Sale 2566 at New York, Rockefeller Plaza Furniture & Decorative Arts featuring Fine Ceramics 7 June 2012 at Skinner in Boston. The auction features a major collection of over one hundred fine examples of Contact: Melissa Bennie majolica. Works of Minton will be featured, and the Vice President, European Ceramics and Glass collection will include examples from some of [email protected] Minton’s contemporary British and French Phone: 212 636 2215 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 [email protected] Phone: 508-970-3203

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

Brownfield Majolica Vase, England, c. 1871-76, Estimate $2,500-3,500

Minton monogramed fountain, potentially made for Minton Nautilus Shell Centerpiece, England, date the London International Exhibition of 1862 cipher 1874, Estimate $5,000-7,000 Dated 1861-1862. Estimate $30,000-50,000

MAJOLICA MATTERS Page 10 April 2012 30th Anniversary: “English Majolica” - 1982 seventeen of the seventy objects presented in the by Duane Matthes exhibit. Their selections included game pie dishes ornamented with rabbits, quail, woodcocks and It was last year when Joan hunting dogs; tortoise-shell-patterned wares; basket Graham showed me an like dishes for serving everything from salt to envelope of 35mm prints strawberries, and an urn embellished with lilies, birds and I said, “Wow, we and dragonflies. 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!

A Minton Stork Stick Stand and a Holdcroft Umbrella Stand opened the exhibit

Majolica items with Whieldon-type plate Andrew Carnegie Mansion is the NYC home of Cooper-Hewitt Museum

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

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

MAJOLICA MATTERS Page 11 April 2012 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 Exhibit items by Minton, Holdcroft, etc. 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.

Tankards by Minton and George Jones with the George Jones Castle Cheese keeper

If an important beginning was 1982, with majolica Minton, and various other makers 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 Wedgwood’s Kate Greenway hat designs with pieces International by George Jones, Minton and a tiny cradle 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- Joan with exhibit items by Minton entendre?

MAJOLICA MATTERS Page 12 April 2012