Stuck on Beauty

 

18th-century paper 

QUESTION: While touring some historic houses, I’ve often marveled at the beautiful wallpapers on their interior walls. I’ve always loved wallpaper. In fact, every room in the house I grew up in had wallpaper on the walls. But getting it off was such a chore that many people turned to painted walls instead. I’d love to know how wallpaper originated and some of the history behind its use. Can you help me?

ANSWER: People have adorned their walls for centuries. During the Middle Ages, the wealthy hung woolen tapestries to help keep out the cold. Later, painted cloths came into fashion. And through the evolution of interior decoration—wallpaper. 

Early on, makers of wallpaper used the same wooden printing blocks used on textiles on heavy paper. Most likely its introduction to Europe occurred in the 16th century, following the Dutch trade with China and Japan. Dutch ships returned from the Far East with exotic decorated papers when they then exported to England and France. 

Hanging wallpaper sheet

The first wallpapers to appear in Europe were small, approximately 12 to 18 inches square and very expensive. Merchants used the earliest wallpapers to decorate the insides of cupboards and smaller rooms in their houses. 

Up until the late 18th century, creators of these small squares of wallpaper hand painted them. That made hanging the paper difficult because many times those smaller pieces didn’t join together very well. As a result, there were gaps, and designs and patterns didn’t meld together that well.

Others attached pieces to frames and let them hang freely. The dark, damp halls of chateaus and manor houses were usually drafty, so people placed these hanging papers where they might cut down on drafts that blew through the large open areas and hallways.

Ancient Roman scene in frame

Many early wallpapers featured stylized floral motifs and simple pictorial scenes copied from contemporary embroideries and other textiles. Makers printed them in monochrome, in black ink on small sheets of paper. It wasn’t until the mid-17th century that wallpaper makers joined the single sheets together to form long rolls, a development that also encouraged the production of larger repeats and the introduction of block-printing. In this process, printers engraved onto the surface of a rectangular wooden block. Then they inked the block with paint and placed it face down on the paper for printing. Polychrome patterns required the use of several blocks----one for every color. They printed each color separately along the length of the roll, which they then hung up to dry before the next color could be applied. “Pitch” pins on the corners of the blocks helped the printer to line up the design. The process was laborious and required considerable skill.

French wallpapers

A number of fine French wallpapers offered different themes than those of the classic English papers. Often, the French papers displayed floral patterns, and many rendered figures from history and literature, whereas the English wallpapers favored landscape and bucolic compositions.

When wallpaper arrived in Colonial America, it was much too expensive for many to afford. Rather than pay the expensive costs for the wallpaper, many continued to paint or stencil their walls. However, some people found the imitation French papers affordable and applied them to their walls in small pieces instead.

Out of proportion design

The floral designs and landscape scenes commonly found were sometimes primitive, with houses and trees out of proportion. The skill of the artist or paperhanger directly affected the appearance of wallpaper. The progression leading to those long rolls of wallpaper allowed people to decorate large expanses of wall space without dividing the areas into those small panels.

By the early 19th century, expensive, imported wallpapers decorated the walls of prominent New England homes. Those papers were of various designs and patterns, and some of them depicted scenes from Greek and Roman mythology. American historical scenes were also popular.

Block printing wallpaper

Up until 1840 all wallpaper makers employed the slow, labor intensive block printing process. So manufacturers wanted to find ways to speed up production. Potters & Ross, a cotton printing firm based in Darwen, Lancashire, England, patented the first wallpaper printing machine in 1839. Adapting the methods used in the printing of calico fabric, the paper passed over the surface of a large cylindrical drum and received an impression of the pattern from a number of rollers arranged around its base. Troughs beneath each one simultaneously inked the rollers with colors. The first machine-printed papers appeared thin and colorless beside the richer and more complex effects of block-printing and most had simple floral and geometric designs with small repeats.

Wallpaper evolved into an art form. One example depicted the Scottish Highlands, complete with sportsmen stalking deer. Another showed a scene of Italian peasants dancing and harvesting grapes. And yet another depicted riders leaping fences.

Historic panorama scene wallpaper

Victorian wallpaper floral

The frieze-filling-dado wallpaper scheme highlights the popularity of wallpaper in Victorian homes. In 1868 as a way of breaking up the monotony of a single pattern on the wall, and by 1880 it was a standard feature in many fashionable interiors. The dado paper covered the lower part of the wall, between the skirting board and chair rail; above this hung the filling, and above this the frieze. And as if three different wallpapers weren’t enough decoration for any room, the scheme was often combined with ceiling papers to complete the densely-patterned effects. Ideally, the frieze should have been light and lively, the filling, a retiring, all-over pattern, and the dado should be darker to withstand dirt and wear and tear. Co-ordinating papers, printed in muted greens, reds, yellows and golds, could be extremely attractive but the frieze-filling-dado-ceiling combination often led to visual overload. Hallways and stairs benefitted best from this wallpaper treatment. But by 1900 ceiling papers had disappeared and, in artistic interiors, wide friezes hung above plain or simple paneled walls.

Antique wallpapers are of interest to several kinds of collectors. Some might be interested in specific themes or designs, such as papers depicting historical scenes, or those displaying floral patterns; wallpapers from England or France or some other country might engage the attention of others; still, some individuals like to collect papers produced by certain manufacturers, such as Cole & Son or William Morris. And some of  those assembling a collection might be interested in a certain time period such as wallpapers manufactured in the 17th or 18th century.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about railroad antiques in "All Aboard!" in the 2021 Summer Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

It's All About the Patterns

 

QUESTION: When I was a little girl, I used to sleep over at my grandmother’s house. While there, I used to stand in front of her china cabinet looking at all the beautiful china. Each piece had some sort of scene, usually a landscape with people. Most of the dishes were blue but some were pink and one or two were lavender. After my grandmother passed, I got her china collection. I just love it but don’t know much as these beautiful pieces. The name Spode is either stamped or impressed on the bottom of most of the pieces. Can you tell me who made them and where they got the ideas for the scenes on them?

ANSWER: What your grandmother collected and you now have is Spode china. All those with scenes and borders are what’s known as transferware, a technique for transferring prints to pottery.

During the early years of the 18th century, Spode achieved success because of  his mastery of transfer printing.  An Irish engraver named Brooks invented the process. It involved first, engraving a copper plate, then inking it and applying to it to thin tissue paper. The impression on the paper could then be transferred to wares of any shape.

Spode produced a variety of pottery wares, often imitating those of Wedgwood, including creamwares, basalts, stonewares, redwares, Jasperwares, and of course blue-printed pearlwares and early experimental porcelains.

In 1784, Spode began printing under the final glaze in blue on earthenware. He copied the early patterns from Chinese porcelain imported wares. By that time, London customers who had originally purchased Chinese porcelain dishes needed replacements. The engraver Thomas Lucas brought with him to Spode’s pottery the knowledge of designs from his previous employer, Thomas Turner at Caughley. 

Most of the early blue transfer-printed patterns were Chinese in style.  As Spode's production advanced and its customers' tastes evolved, the variety of patterns grew. Interest in Chinoiserie patterns later gave way to patterns that depicted rural scenes, exotic places, literary themes, as well as floral and botanical examples.

The earliest pattern produced by Spode around1790, was “Willow,” now known as “Blue Willow,” printed examples of the Willow pattern, commissioned by Josiah Spode and made around 1790, and its copperplate, engraved for Spode by Thomas Minton. 

In June 1805, there appeared the first of 20 monthly issues of a publication called Oriental Held Sports, Wild Spurts of the East, published by Edward Orme of Bond Street, London.  Each issue included a printed story and two large aquatint prints engraved from drawings by Samuel Howitt, a distinguished animal painter. Spode adapted the prints to his dinnerware depicting various hunting scenes with animals and birds. Some views show mounted hunters carrying spears with native bearers on foot. The ’Indian Sporting’ series alone had 21 different hunting scenes.

Another popular series formed a travelogue of views in the Eastern Mediterranean. Spode based these on engravings in Mayer's Views in Asia Minor, Mainly in Caramania, published in 1803. "The Castle of Boudron;" The City of Corinth" and “Antique Fragments at Lissimo” were all part of this series. 

From around 1800, most of the patterns painted by Spode's artists were recorded in Pattern books.  These books contained watercolor paintings of tens of thousands of patterns made from about 1800 up to the end of production. Many are beautiful works of art in their own right, but they also acted as a historic document of changing design styles over two centuries. Georgian simplicity, Regency opulence, Victorian Naturalism, sentimentality, Pre-Raphaelite styles, Japanese Revival, Arts and Crafts, Art Deco, and 1950s Modernism.

Spode introduced his more famous pattern, “Blue Italian,” around 1816. It became immediately popular and remained a best seller. Over the years, the company produced it on a wide variety of earthenware shapes. One Spode catalog from the 1920s and 1930s records over 700 different shapes available. 

Unlike many of the other classical scene patterns on Spode wares of the early 19th century, the origin of the view for the Italian pattern isn’t certain. Some experts believe Italian artist G.P. Pannini, well known for his painting style, inspired pictures of ruins and quiet pastoral Italian scenery fpor Spode pieces. The Spode engravers derived many of their pictorial subjects from scenes which had appeared as prints. Publications of prints of scenes associated with the Grand Tour became the inspiration for many patterns. Merigot's Views Of Rome and Its Vicinity, published in 1798, was the source for several Spode patterns, including Tower and Castle, but experts agree that none of these views inspired the Italian pattern.

Furthermore, there is no one location in Italy that seems to correspond to all the features included in the original “Blue Italian” scene. It seems to be a composition made up of several elements. The ruin on the left, although architecturally incorrect, might have been based on the Great Bath at Tivoli, near Rome. The row of houses along the left bank of the river is similar to those of the Latium area near Umbria, north of Rome. The castle in the distance is of a type which occurs only in Northern Italy in the regions of Piedmont and Lombardy.

Could it be that a traveling artist from Northern Europe made sketches of the scenes he encountered as he made his way through Italy? Upon returning home, did he combine his sketches into an attractive scene which, later, Spode used and chose to call the Italian Pattern? Unfortunately, there is no proof of this. The inspiration for the Italian scene may have even come from a print of a painting and then another painting taken from the print by a different artist.

In the early 19th century, most of the pieces Spode produced in the “Blue Italian” pattern were on dinnerware items used by the rich---asparagus servers, huge meat dishes, enormous soup tureens with ladles, cruet sets, foot baths, and more. Wealthy households set their dinner tables with Spode’s Italian. And there were many variations of the pattern. 

“Blue Italian” was an immediate success from its introduction. Though it’s impossible to say what created this strong appeal, it’s perhaps due to the unique combination of a classical scene with a Chinese border which had been directly copied from pieces of Chinese export porcelain, dating from around 1785.

By 1822, Spode had developed other colors, in addition to blue, that could withstand high-temperature firing.  The production of these additional printed colors enabled Spode to expand his line of wares.  While not nearly as popular as Spode's various blues, these new colors included green, brown, manganese purple, Payne's grey, and black.  

Soon afterwards,  in 1824, two-color underglaze printing began.  Spode also employed other methods to add color.  One method was to transfer print outline patterns and then paint in or between the lines of the pattern in other colors. Other methods included enameling with additional colors and gilded decoration over the glaze to further expand the variety of offerings.  Near the end of the early Spode period, the pottery also began producing wares in pink.

Spode introduced about 150 patterns a year.  By 1833 Spode, they numbered nearly 4,000. Most Spode wares bear a pattern number, as well as the name Spode printed, painted, or impressed on the bottom or reverse side.

Some Spode collectors collect just the “Blue Italian” pattern while others specialize in collecting only the oldest pieces dating from 1816 to 1833. Since Spode china continues to be made, newer pieces are often passed off as older ones. It’s important to check the provenance if possible. 

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "The Ancients" in the 2021 Spring Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

As a River Flows, So Does Flow Blue

QUESTION: My mom loved collecting odd pieces of old china. She died recently and now I have her collection. Among the many pieces are some with designs that are all dark blue and blurry. Are these mistakes or are they some sort of china I’ve never heard of?

ANSWER: No, those blurry pieces are not mistakes. They’re what’s known as Flow Blue. And while many people call this type of ceramics “china,” it’s actually pottery not porcelain. Beginning in 1820, potters in Staffordshire, England, began making it as a way to provide a more affordable alternative for middle-class people who coveted the fine blue and white porcelains being imported from China. As dinnerware, it enjoyed its greatest popularity between the mid-19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. And as an antique, it has gained popularity in recent years.

Potters used cobalt oxide pigment to create the darker hue of flow blue. The porous earthenware absorbed it and blurred when the pottery glaze fired. Although it blurred by itself, potters discovered that it could be made to really flow by the addition of a cup of lime or chloride of ammonia during glaze firing. This had the additional advantage of covering over printing faults, bubbles, and other defects in the pottery. As a result, some flow blue is so blurred that all details are invisible.

Josiah Wedgwood first produced Flow Blue around 1820. But it wasn’t until 15 years later that mass production began. Since flow blue was a decidedly Victorian era phenomenon, its production fell into three time periods.—early Victorian from 1835 to 1850, mid-Victorian from   1860 to 1879, and late Victorian from 1880 to 1900. During the early Victorian period, the most popular styles imitated the Chinese porcelains. But they were largely inaccurate depictions of the Chinese designs, mixing Chinese, Arabic and Indian motifs. Scenics and florals were also  popular during this time.



The mid-Victorian period brought greater creativity to Flow Blue wares, as potters mixed styles and ornamentation became elaborate and varied. Also during the mid-Victorian period, styles began to mix and merge with one another. So, there were things like Oriental-style plates with floral, Gothic, or scenic borders. Other elaborate motifs, like scrolls, pillars, columns, urns and wreaths became quite common. The pieces themselves included toilet wares and teapots, plates and platters, vases and garden seats, and even dog bowls.

Flow blue designs of the late Victorian period exhibited a marked Art Nouveau influence, with stylized florals and beautiful symmetry.

By the end of the Victorian Era, there were thousands of Flow Blue patterns. Though most Flow Blue wares came from English potteries, those in Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United States all made it as well. The most noted English potteries included such names as  Wedgwood, Grindley, Davenport and the Johnson Brothers, while in the United States, Wheeling, Mercer, and Warwick. 
By World War I, U.S. potteries were producing most of the flow blue for the domestic market, causing English potters to close up shop since these wares had never been popular in England. The desirability of the ware waned in both countries between the wars, but interest picked up again in the U.S. in the 1960s.

Antique dealers determine the price of Flow Blue wares mostly based on their pattern, color, and rarity. Patterns range from Blue Danube to Iris and Classic Willow. Especially sought after ones include Amoy, Cashmere, Scinde, Shell, and The Temple, as well as the La Belle pattern by American maker, Wheeling Pottery Company.

Collectors are always on the hunt for the early patterns from the 1840s. Unusual items such as rare shapes, egg baskets and egg cups, large sized platters and early tea and coffeepots command high prices. Egg baskets with eggcups will fetch over $1,000. A single eggcup in a rare pattern can fetch over $400, whereas a not so rare one would fetch maybe $65. Rare coffeepots could he worth over $2,000, and large turkey platters from the 1890s, $600 to $800 if the pattern is right.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about  world's fairs in the 2020 Summer Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

The Magic of Oriental Carpets

QUESTION: My great grandmother left me a beautiful Oriental carpet runner. My grandmother said it is quite old, but I’m not sure by how much.  What can you tell me about antique Oriental carpets? I have no idea about its origins, pattern, and such.

ANSWER: What most people classify as Oriental carpets are actually Persian (now Iranian) or Turkish carpets. Originally made to cover the sand in the tents of nomads and to kneel on when saying daily prayers, these beautiful floor coverings have a long history.

Oriental carpets have been highly prized in the West since their first appearance in Venice in the 13th century. By the 18th century they were common in wealthier households. But relative demand was fairly small, so the production of carpets declined. During the 19th century, trade routes improved, contact with the Orient increased, and the Western obsession with the exotic grew. So Persian weavers produced great quantities of carpets for export.

Carpet-weaving is an integral part of Iranian culture and art and dates back to ancient Persia. Weavers from other countries copied the designs of Persian carpets, but Persia produced 75 percent of the world's woven carpets.

Generally, Persian carpets can be divided into three groups—Farsh/Qa-li, any carpet greater than 6×4 feet, Qa-licheh, sized 6×4 feet and smaller), and nomadic carpets known as Gelim including Zilu, meaning "rough carpet," mostly for use in tents.

Wool is the most common material for carpets but cotton is frequently used for the foundation of city and workshop carpets. There are a wide variety in types of wool used for weaving Oriental carpets, including . Kork wool, Manchester wool, and in some cases even camel hair wool.

Persian rugs have both a layout and a design which in general include one or more motifs, so it’s not unusual to find more than one motif in a single rug. The original designs act as the main pattern and the derivatives as the sub patterns. Rug experts have identified 19 pattern groups---historic monuments and Islamic buildings, Shah Abbassi patterns, spiral patterns, all-over patterns, derivative patterns, interconnected patterns, paisley patterns, tree patterns, Turkoman patterns, hunting ground patterns, panel patterns, European flower patterns, vase patterns, intertwined fish patterns, Mehrab patterns, striped patterns, geometric patterns, tribal patterns, and composites. The most common motifs include Boteh, Gul, Herati, Mina-Khani, Rosette, Shah Abbasi, Azari Kharchang, and Islimi Floral.

Persian rugs are typically laid out using one of four patterns—all-over, central medallion, compartment and one-sided. So a rug’s design can be described in terms of the manner in which it organizes the field of the rug. One basic design may serve the entire field, or the surface may be covered by a pattern of repeating figures. In areas using long-established local designs. the weaver often works from memory, with the patterns passed on within the family.

Weavers often tailored the dimensions of their carpets to suit Western needs. They produced a disproportionate number of runners—long narrow rugs originally designed to cover the sides of rooms or tents since these had special appeal to Westerners. Even so, the standards remained the same. The major carpet-weaving centers—Persia, Turkey and the Caucasus—continued to use traditional motifs and techniques, maintaining the carpets’ regional integrity and originality.

While carpets made before 1800 are extremely expensive, the antique carpet market offers some excellent buys for the beginning collector. High quality runners generally cost between $1,500 and $15,000, depending on overall design, pliability, date, and type and number of knots.

Edgar Allan Poe once said, “A judge at common law may be an ordinary man; a good judge of carpets must be a genius.” And as hard as they are to judge, they’re certainly easy to enjoy.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about  the Industrial Age n the 2020 Winter Edition, "The Wonders of the Industrial Age," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

All That Glitters Isn’t Always Tiffany

QUESTION: I recently bought what I thought was a Tiffany lamp. I paid several hundred dollars for it and thought it was a steal. Now I'm not so sure. I cannot find a signature on it anywhere. Can you tell me if you think it's a Tiffany?

ANSWER: Unfortunately, as the old saying goes, "You got robbed." Well, not exactly. No, your lamp isn't a Tiffany. It's not even close. But what you paid for it probably is what it's worth. And as long as you like it, that's what counts.

The sight of what looks like a Tiffany lamp sends some people into a dream-like state, blinded by the dollar signs in their eyes. Others begin to see dollar signs at the mere mention of the name. Tiffany lamps have become the Holy Grail of antique collecting for many people. To find one—to own one—is paramount to winning the MegaMillions jackpot. And there lies the rub.

Because lamps made by Tiffany Studios command such a high price, people tend to lump all stained glass lamps into this one category. They think that any stained glass lamp is a Tiffany and that they’ll be set for life. In a million-to-one shot, they just might be, but more than likely, their lamp had been made by another company. While its not a fake, neither is it a Tiffany.

Between 1895 and 1915, small factories in New York and Chicago produced a huge variety of mosaic stained glass lamps to satisfy a growing demand for stylish lighting designs to complement the new electric lamps. While Tiffany Studios set the industry standard, other companies produced excellent designs as well.

Companies such as Duffner & Kimberly and Gorham, made lamps of a quality equal to Tiffany Studios and created styles that appealed more to the Victorian taste, although on its way out, that the American middle and upper middle class preferred. Some companies, like Wilkinson, made high quality bases, and took short cuts with their shades. Others, like Unique, focused on creating complex shades and paired them with simpler bases. Many copied Tiffany’s Art Nouveau designs—in many instances almost exactly—and many copied each other.

Tiffany lamps are about the most flamboyant art objects ever produced in America. They attract celebrities, speculators, and decorators, whose buying whims have driven the Tiffany market into a frenzy and then leave it a shambles when the next fad comes along. For the last few years, the market for these wonderful leaded-glass lamps, most produced during the first two decades of this century, has been recuperating from a decade-long manic-depressive binge.

During the 1950's, a few pioneer collectors began looking at the sensuous floral lamps made by Louis Comfort Tiffany and his Tiffany Studios. Louis was the son of the founder of the famous New York jewelry firm, but for most of his life he preferred painting, the  decorative arts, and interior design.




During the 1960s, interest in the lamps grew rapidly because their restless, fragmented, colorful designs fit nicely into eclectic, psychedelic decorating schemes of that time. Inflation in the 1970's drew investors, speculators, and celebrities into a market where prices sometimes doubled from year to year. Recession in the early 1980's drove those buyers from the market, and prices collapsed. Since then, prices for  some lamps have moved back to, or even above, their former highs; but the market is still very selective one.

The current record price for a Tiffany lamp is the $528,000 paid in December, 1984, at  Christie's in New York City for a large floor lamp with a shade in the Magnolia pattern.  The lamp was one of several being sold by record producer David Geffen, who had been a major Tiffany buyer during the era of hectic growth. Although it was set long after those halcyon days, the record was more a last gasp than a portent of things to come. Today, authentic lamps made by Tiffany Studios and signed either “Louis Comfort Tiffany” or “Tiffany Studios” on the rim of the shade go for as high as $30,000. No wonder there are so many “Tiffphonies” out there.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 24,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about antique clocks in the Fall 2019 Edition, "It's That Time Again," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques & More Collection on Facebook.

Victorian Cottage Charm

QUESTION: I have a four-piece bedroom set that I believe may be Cottage Victorian. My mother bought it in a second hand store in Pennsylvania over 56 years ago, when I was around 8 years old. I still use it, but I have considered letting it go. But before I do anything with it, I want to learn more about it. Can you help?

ANSWER: Your bedroom set is in exceptionally good condition. It’s made in a style known as Cottage Victorian. What’s also interesting is that you have the entire set. And because it has been in constant Victorian furniture became popular in the United States, particularly along the East Coast, after the Civil War. Pieces began appearing in workshops and then homes of the wealthy in places like Martha's Vineyard, Cape May, and the Berkshires. But the popularity of these items didn’t remain exclusively with the upper class. As the middle class grew, equally elegant, but relatively reasonably priced versions began to appear in the homes of the nation’s growing work force, particularly in Pennsylvania and New England.

Homeowners purchased Victorian Cottage furniture in mostly bedroom "suites,"sold as coordinating groupings consisting of a double bed, a washstand, a dresser or vanity with an attached mirror, a small table, a straight chair and a rocker, and often a wardrobe. In this case, the set consists of four pieces. Cabinetmakers used pine or other inexpensive wood, then painted the entire piece with several layers of paint. The finished sets were colorful and whimsical. But not all sets were painted.

Cottage Victorian beds have high, decorated headboards, some as high as six feet. Finials and medallions constituted what little carving there was on most pieces. Most of the decoration took the form of painted flowers, fruit, and other plants, featuring a large painted bouquet-like medallion in a central panel on the headboard and a smaller, matching one on the foot-board.

Originally, local cabinetmakers, most of whom didn’t have any formal training, built these pieces from designs in pattern books, but towards the last two decades of the 19th century, manufacturers began to mass produce them. This set is one of those.

Those made by untrained cabinetmakers had decoration applied to them in a primitive, folk art sort of way. More expensive sets featured scenes of sailing ships or local wildlife. The same decorative motif appeared on all the pieces of a furniture suite. Those that were painted had a background color of tan, pale blue, pale green, pink, mustard yellow, and sometimes chocolate brown.



One of the biggest misconceptions was that Victorian homeowners loved the appearance of natural woods in their furnishings. That preference didn’t appear until the early 20th century. Cottage Victorian furniture was usually painted to brighten people’s dark, oil-lamp lit homes. As a result, many pieces of painted furniture have been stripped and finished to the often not so beautiful bare wood by well-meaning dealers and collectors.

Cabinetmakers fitted drawers and cabinet doors with wooden knobs instead of metal hardware. Even the boldly colored paint, didn’t have the look of value to it. Those pieces of Victorian Cottage furniture that have survived intact usually have a crackled surface from age-shrinkage, with flakes in spots due from dryness.

Manufacturers produced sets like this one as cheaply as possible. Made usually of pine with machine turned legs and finials, they featured as little structural decoration as possible. Even painted motifs were kept to a minimum to reduce the time it took to do them. Some even feature stenciled designs, so that the maker didn’t have to pay more for trained artists.

To the untrained eye, Victorian Cottage furniture looks as if it should be sold as junk or stripped to the bare wood. But this style of furniture has a charm all its own.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 18,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about religious antiques in the special 2019 Winter Edition, "The Old West," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques & More Collection on Facebook.

Under the Coverlets

QUESTION: I’ve long admired the colorful coverlets that are often on display in museum gift shops. Recently, I saw an exhibit of them at a museum in Indiana. The variety was astonishing. I know they were done on a special kind of loom, but I forget what it was called. Can you tell me more about how these coverlets were made and a bit about their history?

ANSWER: Coverlets originated in Europe. Early ones, woven on a four-harness type loom, didn’t have complex patterns like those made in the mid 19th century in the United States. Their unique designs were made possible by the invention of the “Jacquard” loom.

Household weavers usually women, produced these decorative and warm bed covers. They created simple but visually exciting geometric overshot coverlets. Complex, figural designs were more difficult to produce alone on the same loom. That changed in 1806 when Joseph Marie Jacquard of France invented a mechanical attachment that could be attached to most looms by professional male weavers. A series of punched cards  guided the raising and lowering of the warp threads to form complex designs. Repeated motifs could be endlessly varied and re-combined. Floral designs, birds, simple buildings and stars were common, with a central section usually framed by a border along the top, sides, and bottom. Many Jacquard coverlet weavers "signed" and dated their textiles on the decorative corner blocks at the bottom corners.

The Jacquard attachment first appeared in America in the early 1820s, probably by one of the many German, English and French hand weavers who had immigrated from their native countries in Europe. These immigrant weavers tended to settle in areas with populations of their own ethnic group and near sources of good quality wool. Many brought some type of Jacquard attachment or at least the experience to use one. Some even developed their own devices based on Jacquard's idea and patented them in the U.S.

The earliest American Jacquard coverlets appeared in New York and Pennsylvania in the late 1820s. As weavers saturated the market in the Eastern states, and weaving became more mechanized and moved into a factory setting, many weavers moved westward into Ohio and Indiana, and eventually to Illinois, looking for new markets as well as farmland. Raw wool and commercially spun yarns as well as natural and synthetic dyestuffs needed for weaving could easily be obtained throughout the state. The weavers settled in or near agrarian communities among people of shared backgrounds and familiar with folk motifs and designs used in coverlets, primarily those from Germany, France and England. The weavers made lasting contributions to the communities in which they settled, opening businesses and promoting weaving; perhaps most importantly, they brought a touch of color and technical design to an expanding 19th-century population on the western frontier.

Jacquard weavers derived the patterns and motifs they used from well-known folk traditions of Western Europe. The designs of most Illinois coverlets can be traced back to Ohio and Pennsylvania coverlets. The center field patterns were either a large, repeated symmetrical motif on two-piece ones or a centered medallion on single-width coverlets. Floral motifs appeared most frequently, in the Four Lilies and Sun-burst, Four Roses, Octagonal Four Roses, Four Leaves and Four Acorns, and Four Bellflowers patterns. Star and Sunburst designs were also common.

Illinois Jacquard coverlets, like their Pennsylvania counterparts, had borders along each side and the bottom. Popular traditional Germanic motifs include the distelfink, or thistle finch, and Grapevine. A corner block or name line identifies the weaver, his location, and usually the year of production.

Typically, weavers produced cotton coverlets for weddings and births. Wedding or bride coverlets or blankets were required items in a young woman’s hope chest. Starting around 1825, major towns had a resident weaver whose job it was to make blankets and accept work on commission. The weaver may have had an apprentice and the weaver’s loom was the site of his/her business dealings. Coverlets were double woven and produced with wool and imported indigo blue and madder red or brown dyes. A traditional early 19th-century woven coverlet would cost the buyer between $5 and $15. Coverlets were much more commonplace than quilts from about 1823 to the end of the Civil War in 1865.

Learn more about Jacquard coverlet and rug weaving by reading "Weaving their Way Into History" in The Antiques Almanac. This is the story of a family who has kept Jacquard coverlet weaving alive in Pennsylvania.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 18,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about the early 20th century in the Fall 2018 Edition, "20th Century Ltd.," online now.

Idealized Scenes from Life

QUESTION: I’ve grown to love the scenes on English transferware. I’ve got a small collection that I add to from time to time. How did the makers of these wares know what sort of scenes to use to decorate their wares? Were they trying to illustrate stories or myths? Nearly all of the scenes on my pieces are rural. Is there a reason for that?

ANSWER: These are all good questions. The Victorians had a method to their madness, as the old saying goes. As it turns out, the scenes on your Staffordshire transferware pieces were a direct result of historic events and the lifestyles that people led at the time.

During the 19th century, Victorians began exploring the world around them.  Technological advances enabled them to make more ambitious voyages of discovery. And as they journeyed farther from home, their views of the natural world changed. This changing perspective reflected in the decorations of 19th-century ceramics ranging from early historical and romantic Staffordshire transfer printed wares to late 19th-century majolica. Idealized wilderness and pastoral scenes could be found on all types of vessels and dishes.

By this time Americans had begun to develop a different view of the land. To the Puritans, wilderness had been considered a land of devils and demons, a domain to be feared. But the Victorians reveled in the beauty of nature.

The American frontier had been pushed westward. Following this trend, Staffordshire potteries began producing transfer printed landscapes illustrating the popular, romantic ideal of nature. Favorite spots such as Niagara Falls and Newport, Rhode Island, began to accommodate sightseers. And the Romantic Movement of the first half of the 19th century influenced the images on ceramics, from country scenes to floral motifs.

The Victorians developed a passion for natural history. They chronicled what they found in journals--the world's flora, fauna, and sea life—and created museums for their discoveries, erecting home conservatories, and published illustrated volumes on the natural sciences. Staffordshire artists thumbed through botany texts and visited botanical gardens and zoos, sketch-pads in hand, for inspiration. Some of this fascination may be seen in the border designs created by several of the potters of  Staffordshire wares and the floral motifs seen in Flow Blue.

Another reason for the popularity of a romanticized image of woodlands, mountains, sandy shores, and even idyllically situated American towns may be traced to the actual dirtiness and difficulty of life in both rural and urban landscapes.

Scenes on dinnerware were pristine by comparison. Several of the city views do show cattle and sheep in the foreground, but the cleanliness even of those scenes provided at least temporary escape from the dirtiness of the real world.

Another result of the Victorians’ fascination with nature, plus the Victorians’ obsession with death, was the Garden Cemetery Movement, born in Boston. In 1832, a group created the Auburn Cemetery, a large rural cemetery in rolling countryside with plenty of room for adequate burials. The site was also far enough away from the city to make grave robbery difficult. They adorned the  garden cemetery landscape with sculptures and artful groupings of trees and flowers to combine a necessity for more burial land with a desire to revel in nature.

The sylvan burial plots brought families to the large, rural cemeteries on picnics. Young couples took long strolls and individuals wandered among sepulchers and statuary to seek out moral lessons and inspiration. In essence, the new cemeteries became the first American public parks—places to commune both with nature and the dearly departed.

This combination of movements explains several unusual historical Staffordshire prints. Neither George Washington nor Benjamin Franklin would have ever expected anyone to spend time ruminating over his grave. Yet Enoch Wood & Son in both the illustrations of “Franklin's Tomb” and `Washington's Tomb” depict General Lafayette reclining by urn-capped tombs drawing inspiration from the resting places of his departed allies. Edward and George Phillips, two other noted artists of the time, show a young couple gazing at a tomb in an open glade in their print “Franklin.” This example appeared on a handless tea cup. Enoch Wood & Sons produced the most unusual print and the one that illustrates romantic death, titled “Washington Standing by His Own Tomb With a Scroll in His Hand.”

So the illustrations on pieces of Staffordshire aren’t random but related to the everyday lives of the people who used those dishes and other ceramic vessels.

Learn more about the Victorian obsession with death by reading "When Death Came A-Calling" in The Antiques Almanac.