Monday, November 15, 2010

Botanicals

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Derby, England ca. 1796-1805, colutea frutescens
The Gardiner Museum's permanent collection features a wall cabinet displaying a collection of pieces from a botanical dinner service made in Derby, England ca. 1796-1805. Each is painted with a different flower, and all the pieces are rimmed in a warm yellow. The hand-painted botanicals on these plates remind me of the Pierre-Joseph Redouté botanical watercolour illustrations of that time.

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Derby, England ca. 1796-1805

Botanical illustration has been popular for over 200 years and has never gone out of fashion.

Flora Danica is an enduring Royal Copenhagen pattern first commissioned and produced in 1804 for the Danish king.  Today's Queen Margrethe II of Denmark still has the original dinner service in her possession and uses part of it on special occasions. Of the original 1,802 pieces, 1,530 still exist.

The Royal Copenhagen factory still produces the Flora Danica pattern.  A vintage Flora Botanica oval serving platter is pictured below.

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Royal Copenhagen Flora Danica, digitalis purpurea
One of my favourite botanical patterns still being made is Spode's Stafford Flowers. The pieces are decorated with 22 carat gilding and raised gold spots in the border. A Spode Stafford Flowers covered vegetable dish is shown below.
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Spode Stafford Flowers covered vegetable dish, iris & sphaerolobium

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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 15, 2010 at 11:33 AM

    Gorgeous!! We were able to see the beautiful Flora Danica collection a few years ago in Copenhagen--so exquisite. And here on the island, we represented an extraordinary artist who created hand painted botanical china plates, each with a plant/flower/insect native to Bainbridge Island. Breathtaking!

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  2. Norbridge AntiquesNovember 15, 2010 at 2:14 PM

    Kathe, How luck you are to have seen the collection in Copenhagen. I'm always happy to read your posts about Bainbridge Island. It seems such a wonderful place.
    Kind regards,
    Juliane

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  3. Tamara StephensonNovember 15, 2010 at 2:27 PM

    beautiful - thanks for posting. The detailing is exquisite, the banding superb, and what better art to display on a wall but historic Copenhagen porcelain. The Gardiner museum is one of my all time favorite museums as well.

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  4. Norbridge AntiquesNovember 15, 2010 at 3:37 PM

    Tamara, Thank you. I appreciate your visit to my blog.
    Kind regards,
    Juliane

    ReplyDelete

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