Majolica Decorative Objects
1880s French Renaissance Revival Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Ceramic, Faience, Majolica
Mid-20th Century Italian Neoclassical Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica, Porcelain
1880s Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
1880s French Aesthetic Movement Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica, Ceramic, Faience
1880s English Victorian Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica, Ceramic, Faience
Late 19th Century French Art Nouveau Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
1860s Victorian Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
1880s English Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
1870s English Victorian Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
1880s English Victorian Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
1890s Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Majolica Decorative Objects
Ceramic, Majolica, Pottery
1880s Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
1950s Italian Vintage Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
1880s German Victorian Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
Early 20th Century Italian Renaissance Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
19th Century English Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
Early 2000s Italian Modern Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
1870s English Victorian Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
1920s German Bauhaus Vintage Majolica Decorative Objects
Ceramic, Majolica
1910s French Vintage Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
Early 1900s French Jugendstil Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Ceramic, Majolica
1880s French Victorian Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Faience, Ceramic, Majolica
1880s Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
1870s English Victorian Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
Early 20th Century Swiss Arts and Crafts Majolica Decorative Objects
Earthenware, Majolica
1880s French Victorian Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
1880s French Aesthetic Movement Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Ceramic, Faience, Majolica
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Majolica Decorative Objects
Ceramic, Majolica
Mid-20th Century Unknown Victorian Majolica Decorative Objects
Ceramic, Majolica
1870s English Victorian Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
1950s Italian Modern Vintage Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
Early 1900s Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Ceramic, Majolica, Paint
Early 20th Century French Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
Late 19th Century French Victorian Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
Early 1900s French Art Nouveau Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Majolica Decorative Objects
Ceramic, Majolica
1930s German Art Deco Vintage Majolica Decorative Objects
Earthenware, Majolica
1870s Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
Late 19th Century French Japonisme Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
Early 20th Century Italian Renaissance Revival Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
Late 20th Century Italian Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica, Porcelain
Early 20th Century Italian Victorian Majolica Decorative Objects
Terracotta, Majolica
19th Century Mid-Century Modern Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
1890s English Victorian Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
1880s French Other Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Majolica Decorative Objects
Ceramic, Majolica
1870s English Victorian Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
19th Century French Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
1870s French Napoleon III Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
Mid-19th Century Portuguese Renaissance Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Majolica Decorative Objects
Ceramic, Clay, Majolica
Early 20th Century Swiss Arts and Crafts Majolica Decorative Objects
Earthenware, Majolica
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Majolica Decorative Objects
Copper
Late 19th Century Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
19th Century French Antique Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Majolica Decorative Objects
Ceramic, Majolica
Mid-20th Century Unknown Folk Art Majolica Decorative Objects
Majolica
Antique and Vintage Majolica Vases, Bowls, Candleholders and Other Decorative Objects
The popularity of Victorian majolica, the gaily colored, metallic-oxide-glazed earthenware, has ebbed and flowed for more than a century. Right now, antique and vintage vases, bowls and other decorative objects appear to be having a moment — again.
Starting in the 1850s, people in the U.S. and the U.K. embraced these affordable housewares with unusual polychrome palettes (turquoise and pink) and whimsical forms (candlesticks shaped like dolphins). By the 1870s, majolica was being mass-produced for an ever-expanding middle class in countries like England, France, Sweden, Hungary and Portugal. Majolica was Art for Everyman. Its popularity coincided with interest in exotic Japonisme and scientific studies by the likes of Carl Linnaeus, Charles Darwin and John James Audobon.
Despite a similarity in name, Victorian majolica is significantly different in subject matter and form from its Italian forebear, Renaissance maiolica. That earlier earthenware bore gaily painted religious and mythological scenes, and unlike majolica, with its lively contours, was not molded or three dimensional.
What was the attraction of majolica for the 19th-century collector? “Imagine what it looked like in a Victorian interior, with dark woods, heavy drapes and upholstered chairs and sofas,” says Susan Weber, founder of the Bard Graduate Center in New York. “Majolica is robust and extremely tactile. With its naturalistic shapes, colorful glazes and often humorous themes, it appealed to the growing consumer society.”
In England, manufacturers like Minton began to produce decorative, relief-molded majolica tiles for the interiors of taverns, train stations, even the famous Queen’s Dairy at Frogmore, on the grounds of Windsor Castle. In 19th-century France, Sèvres and smaller ceramics firms began to reinterpret the snake-decorated platters made by Bernard Palissy, a 16th-century self-taught French potter. The result was a type of majolica called Palissy ware, which, like the originals, was festooned with odd creatures (lobsters, lizards and snakes) modeled by hand.
The late Moroccan-born, Paris-based decorator Alberto Pinto often placed Palissy ware in his clients’ living rooms, posing individual pieces on brackets against a background of stamped, gilded leather. Pinto, in turn, influenced such contemporary decorators as Harry Heissmann of New York. After 1900, people got swept up in the romanticism of Art Nouveau and ceased buying majolica. The 1970s saw a revival of interest, and in 1982, the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, in New York, organized “English Majolica,” an exhibition featuring 75 examples from Minton, Wedgwood and George Jones, among other makers.
On 1stDibs, find antique and vintage majolica tea sets, vases, candlesticks, tureens and other furniture and decorative objects.
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