FINE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART
1 - 21
22
- 42
43
- 63
64
- 84
85
- 89
<< 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 >>
A Chelsea Botanical Dessert
Plate, lobed shape, beautifully painted with a very fine specimen of the
Iris Unguicularis or Stylosa, showing the shaded strap-like leaves, two of
the light blue bearded flowers and a characteristically spiralled bud,
together with a cluster of three of its black seed, a green smooth skinned
caterpiller and a clover flower, within a brown line rim.
Circa 1758-1760.
Diameter: 9ins. (23cms.)
Mark: brown anchor mark to the underside of the plate.
The Iris Unguicularis or Stylosa is one of the joys of the Winter with its
perpetual succession of blooms at a time when there is little to warm the
heart in the garden. The delicate blue colour is successfully shown here
to good dramatic effect with the two open flowers and the bud, which is
poised to burst. The significance of the brown anchor is generally thought
to signify wares from the Gold Anchor period that do not include gilding
and that are more stylistically linked to their earlier Red Anchor marked
botanical counterparts. The style of decoration at this time steadily
gives way to fruit and cut fruit after 1760 so the botanical theme of this
plate would therefore suggest a date prior to this during the transitional
period.
<< 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 >>