Majolica Furniture
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Material: Majolica
French 19th Century Majolica Porcelain Yellow Glazed Basket with Six Egg Cups
Located in Atlanta, GA
A French yellow glazed majolica porcelain basket from the 19th century, with a set of six egg cups and pink ribbons. Created in France during the 19th century, this majolica porcelai...
Category
19th Century French Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica, Porcelain
Antique Ceramic Majolica Josef Strnact Wall Plate with Landscape, Austria, 1900s
Located in Nuernberg, DE
This beautiful wall decoration plate is a nice addition to your Wall. It is marked at the back. A nice addition to your toleware room or Hollywood regency interior.
Category
Early 20th Century Austrian Folk Art Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Majolica
Sarreguemines French Majolica Corn on the Cob Lidded Tureen, Vintage France
Located in Nuernberg, DE
Serving bowl in the shape of a corn on the cob with a leaf. Underglaze mark. Nice addition to your table or just to display. Please see detailed pictur...
Category
1930s French Folk Art Vintage Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Majolica
Majolica Cherries Oval Basket Sarreguemines, circa 1920
Located in Austin, TX
Majolica Cherries oval basket signed Sarreguemines, circa 1920.
Lenght / 14.3 on 8" ,Height / 2.3 inches.
Category
1920s French Rustic Vintage Majolica Furniture
Materials
Pottery, Majolica, Faience, Ceramic
Samuel Alcock & Co. Majolica Purple Geraniums Plate, English, circa 1860
Located in Banner Elk, NC
Samuel Alcock & Co. Majolica purple glazed geraniums plate, English, circa 1860, molded with purple glazed geranium blossoms, stems and leaves glazed in green, yellow and brown, rese...
Category
19th Century English Victorian Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica
Ceramic Moon Jar Hand Painted Majolica Italy Contemporary, 21st Century
Located in London, GB
Mediterranea moon jar, 2020, full-fire reduction faience earthenware 40 cm diameter, hand painted unique piece.
Bottega Vignoli is a brand of artistic ceramics...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Majolica
French Majolica Plate with Pumpkin & Snail Onnaing, circa 1890
By Onnaing
Located in Austin, TX
French Majolica plate with pumpkin & snail Onnaing, circa 1890.
Category
1890s French French Provincial Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Faience, Majolica, Pottery
Ceramic Fish Plates Wall Art Composition, Mid-Century Modern Period
Located in Barcelona, ES
Set of midcentury multi color fish Plates and Platters as Wall Decoration
A funny collection of twelve european glazed ceramic, porcelain and...
Category
20th Century European Mid-Century Modern Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Majolica, Porcelain, Terracotta
19th Century Majolica Asparagus Plate with Cabbage Leaves Creil & Montereau
Located in Austin, TX
19th Century majolica asparagus plate with large green cabbages leaves by the Manufacture of Creil and Montereau.
Category
1880s French Country Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica
Majolica Fish Sealife Platter Vallauris, circa 1950
By Vallauris
Located in Austin, TX
Majolica sealife platter Vallauris, circa 1950.
High relief of starfish, seaweeds, oyster, shell.
Nautical style.
Category
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Faience, Majolica
Minton Majolica Lily Jug/Pitcher
By Minton
Located in Chelmsford, Essex
Minton Majolica jug/pitcher which features flowering lilies and lily pads. Colouration: green, dark pink, white, are predominant.
Category
1870s English Victorian Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica
Very Rare Villeroy Boch / Mettlach Jardiniere on Flower Columns, 1890
Located in Handewitt, DE
Pair of very rare Villeroy Boch / Mettlach jardiniere on flower columns circa .1890. Richly decorated with ornaments, heads and colors. Very good quality...
Category
19th Century German Art Nouveau Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica
Wall Art Composition of Mid-Century Modern Ceramic Fish Shaped Plates
Located in Barcelona, ES
Set of midcentury multi color ceramic fish Plates and Platters as Wall Decoration
A cool collection of eleven european glazed ceramic, porcela...
Category
20th Century European Mid-Century Modern Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Majolica, Porcelain, Terracotta
19th Century French Hand Painted Ceramic Barbotine Pig Pitcher Onnaing Style
By Onnaing
Located in Dallas, TX
This colorful, antique water pitcher was crafted in Northern France, circa 1880. The jug, titled "Cochon au Jambon" (pig with ham), features a pig sculpture with a laurel leaf crown ...
Category
Early 20th Century French Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Majolica
Rare Belgium Majolica Asparagus Plate Wasmuel, circa 1880
Located in Austin, TX
Rare Belgium Majolica asparagus plate Wasmuel, circa 1880.
Napkin trompe l'oeil.
Category
Late 19th Century Belgian Rustic Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Faience, Majolica
19th Century Majolica Asparagus Plate Luneville
By Luneville
Located in Austin, TX
19th century rare Majolica asparagus plate, Luneville unsigned.
Every important French manufactures produced at the end of the 19th century asparagus...
Category
1880s French Aesthetic Movement Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Faience, Majolica
Antique Ceramic Majolica Josef Strnact Wall Plate with Landscape, Austria, 1900s
Located in Nuernberg, DE
This beautiful wall decoration plate is a nice addition to your Wall. It is marked at the back. A nice addition to your toleware room or Hollywood regency interior.
Category
Early 20th Century Austrian Folk Art Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Majolica
19th Century Majolica Pink and Blue Oyster Plate Gien
By Gien
Located in Austin, TX
Rare 19th century Majolica oyster plate with pastels colors, shells and seaweeds signed Gien.
Category
1890s French Aesthetic Movement Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Majolica
Large Ceramic Plate Hand Painted Majolica Italy Contemporary Unique 21st century
Located in London, GB
"Orvieto", large plate, 2017, full-fire reduction faience earthenware 52 cm diameter, hand painted unique piece.
Perfect décor for the wall or simply placed at the centre of a table...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Renaissance Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Majolica
19th Century French Ceramic Barbotine Apple Wall Platter Attributed to Longchamp
By Longchamp
Located in Dallas, TX
This colorful, antique Majolica fruit plate was sculpted in France, circa 1890. The large, circular platter features four hand painted green and ...
Category
Late 19th Century French Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Majolica
Mid-Century French Saint Clement Barbotine Faience Oyster Plates '6' and Dish
Located in Dallas, TX
These colorful antique plates and matching serving platter were created in France circa 1920, by the Saint Clement factory. The hand painted Majolica service features 6 round plates and one charger, all having oyster shaped and lemon wedge motifs. Every piece is marked underfoot "St Clement France". The set is in excellent condition with rich colors in the green and yellow palette.
The faience factory of Saint-Clement, 12 kms from Lunéville, was established in 1758 by Jacques Chambrette, who already owned another one in Lunéville. With this second factory he aimed at the higher segment of the market with prestigious objects. The factory received because of this a label as Royal Suplier for Marie-Antoinette's Trianon.
After Jacques died in 1758, his son Gabriel became the new owner. Between 1759 and 1763 the factory was managed by Charles Loyal, Jacques Chambrette's son-in-law, Paul Louis Cyfflé and the architect Richard Mique, who owned half the factory in 1786.
In the 18th century Saint-Clément produced domestic objects of ordinary earthenware, luxurious objects and decorative objects of fine earthenware (so-called "terre de pipe"). Between the first quarter of the 19th century and 1892 both current utensils of ordinary earthenware and fine earthenware are produced and decorative objects of grand and petit feu (Emile Gallé).
In the second half of the 19th century the factory reproduced Louis XIV objects, among them objects with very unnatural forms, where they attempted to imitate the multicolored decorations of Strasbourg faience...
Category
Mid-20th Century French Majolica Furniture
Materials
Faience, Majolica
Minton Majolica Mermen Jardiniere Turquoise Interior
By Minton
Located in Chelmsford, Essex
Minton Majolica jardinière with a mythological theme which features two mermen (sometimes attributed to the Sea God Neptune or to Triton), s...
Category
1870s English Victorian Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica
Palissy Ware Trompe L'oeil Oval Platter, Signed Longchamp, French, ca. 1875
By Longchamp
Located in Banner Elk, NC
Longchamp Large Oval Palissy Ware Trompe L'oeil Platter, with molded and applied fish, two langoustines, and two naturalistically molded and glazed frogs, a green-glazed lizard, and ...
Category
1870s French Victorian Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica
Spanish Rooster Shaped Pitcher in Brown Glazed Ceramic, 1960s
Located in Barcelona, ES
Eye-catching brown and beige ceramic rooster jug / pitcher, Spain, 1950s-1960s.
Ceramic decorative rooster shaped jug in brown color with fat lava decorat...
Category
20th Century Spanish Mid-Century Modern Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Majolica, Earthenware
19th Century French Hand-Painted Barbotine Vases Signed P. Perret, Set of Three
By Pierre Perret
Located in Dallas, TX
Decorate a shelf of a console with this elegant set of colorful majolica planters. Sculpted in Vallauris, France, circa 1890, and signed by the artist Pierre Perret, each ceramic jar...
Category
Late 19th Century French Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Majolica
Wedgwood Majolica Basketweave and Grape Bread Tray, Cobalt Center, Dated 1870
By Wedgwood
Located in Banner Elk, NC
Wedgwood Majolica scalloped oval bread tray, molded as a shallow looped wicker basket, the center glazed in cobalt blue and bordered in yellow-glazed wheat with green, lavender, and white grape leaves and tendrils to either side, surmounted with naturalistically molded and glazed grape vine handles, the reverse with impressed marks, 'WEDGWOOD,' and Wedgwood three-letter date code, the third letter 'Y' for 1870.
For thirty years, we have been among the preeminent specialists in fine antique majolica.
BOOK REFERENCES:
Nicholas M. Dawes, MAJOLICA. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1990, p. 101, Figure 176.
Maureen Batkin, WEDGWOOD CERAMICS...
Category
19th Century English Victorian Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica
Rare Large 19th Century Majolica Melon Platter
Located in Austin, TX
Rare Large 19th century Majolica Melon platter.
Diameter / 11.2".
Category
1880s French Victorian Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Faience, Majolica, Ceramic
French Majolica Pears Pitcher Orchies, circa 1890
By Orchies
Located in Austin, TX
French Majolica pitcher with pears Orchies, circa 1890.
Category
1890s French Country Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Faience, Majolica
Majolica Palissy Fish Jardinière School of Paris, circa 1880
Located in Austin, TX
Small 19th Century Palissy footed wood box jardinière School of Paris.
The School of Paris was composed by makers as Victor Barbizet, Francois Maurice...
Category
1880s French Country Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica
Antique Victorian Historism Majolica Pedestal Bowl / Centerpiece Knights Dragons
Located in Bad Säckingen, DE
This antique Historism centerpiece / pedestal bowl is made of polychrom glazed majolica and features four cartouches decorated with high relief knight helmets and dragons. The manufa...
Category
1880s German Rococo Revival Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Majolica
Large Antique Majolica Planter Made Circa 1880 Turquoise Ground & Green Leaves
By Minton
Located in Katonah, NY
This exquisite 19th-century majolica jardiniere and underplate by Minton was handpainted in Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England, around 1880. This jardiniere measures an impressive 17" across the handles
it is adorned with a delightful design of green oak leaves and light brown acorns that stand out beautifully against the beautiful turquoise background.
The handles, in the shape of twisting oak branches...
Category
Late 19th Century English Arts and Crafts Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica
Large French Majolica Morning Glory Jardinière, circa 1880
Located in Austin, TX
Large French Majolica jardinière with morning glory flowers from north of France, circa 1880.
Category
1880s French Country Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Faience, Majolica
Vintage Deruta Italian Majolica Boat Shaped Vase
By Deruta
Located in New Orleans, LA
A unique, rare early 20th century Italian Majolica boat shaped bowl created in the Deruta studio, Deruta, Italy. A rare and coveted example of the golden...
Category
Early 20th Century Italian Rustic Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica
Rare 19th Century English Majolica Yellow Oyster Plate
Located in Austin, TX
Rare 19th Century English Majolica Yellow Oyster plate.
Very rare color.
Category
1890s English Victorian Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Majolica
Orange and Blue Ceramic Vase Hand Painted Majolica Italy Contemporary
Located in London, GB
Bottega Vignoli, Borgia conical vase, 2022 hand painted majolica 17cm x 37cm height. Unique piece.
Bottega Vignoli is a brand of artistic ceramics...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Renaissance Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Majolica
George Jones Majolica Pond Lilies and Bullrushes 10-in Tray, English, c. 1875
By George Jones
Located in Banner Elk, NC
A George Jones Majolica 10-inch Oval Pen Tray, with green-glazed relief-molded lily pads with white blossoms and naturalistically glazed bullrushes on turquoise-glazed water forming the ground, with a yellow ocher rim, the reverse glazed in brown and green tortoiseshell...
Category
19th Century English Victorian Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica
Blue and White Dutch Delft Tile with the Good Shepherd, Early 18th Century
Located in AMSTERDAM, NH
The Netherlands
Rotterdam
Circa 1720 - 1740
An unusually fine painted religious 'open air' tile with deep shades of blue and a shining glaze, decorated with the story of the lost sheep...
Category
Mid-18th Century Dutch Baroque Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Faience, Majolica
19th Century Victorian Majolica Bird Box Joseph Holdcroft
Located in Austin, TX
19th Century Victorian Majolica cobalt box with a bird handle and white flowers Joseph Holdcroft.
Very rare shape box.
Category
1880s English Victorian Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Faience, Majolica
Minton Majolica Small Jardinière Flower Trough Singed, Dated 1871
By Minton
Located in Banner Elk, NC
Minton Majolica Small Jardiniere, realistically molded as a simulated water trough formed by faux wooden staves and pegs, overlain with budding Hawthrone branches, the corners formed as mossy posts, banded near the base with pegged logs, the interior glazed in Minton Blue (turquoise); impressed marks to reverse: 'MINTON,' with British Registry Number for 16 April 1870 (when the design was registered), Minton date cipher for 1871, and the Design Number, '1563,' which corresponds to the entry, 'FLOWER TROUGH...
Category
19th Century English Victorian Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica
Majolica Fish Sealife Platter Vallauris, circa 1950
By Vallauris
Located in Austin, TX
Majolica sealife platter Vallauris, circa 1950.
High relief of fish, seaweeds and shells.
Nautical style.
Measure: 9.3" diameter.
Category
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Faience, Majolica
Majolica Sweetmeat Stand, Wedgwood, circa 1865
By Minton
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
A brightly coloured majolica sweetmeat dish in the form of a bucolic young man leaning on a basket.
Minton majolica is a type of ceramic ware that was produced by the Minton pottery in the 19th century. It was created in response to the growing popularity of Italian Renaissance maiolica...
Category
Mid-18th Century English Rococo Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica
19th Century, French, Hand Painted Barbotine Faience Floral Vase from Montigny
Located in Dallas, TX
This antique majolica planter was sculpted in Montigny sur Loing, France, circa 1860. Tall and oval in shape, the ceramic jardinière stands on a flat rectangular base; it features colorful hand painted floral motifs in high relief on a brown background. The elegant barbotine vase is in excellent condition with rich patinated colors in the pale green, yellow, beige and pink palette.
Impressionist ceramics term generally applies to "paint the slip" or "batch gouache". At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the towns of Montigny-sur-Loing and Marlotte are many artists living places like Jean-Baptiste Corot, Eugène Thirion (1839-1910), Adrien Schulz (1851-1931), Numa Gillet (1868-1940) and Lucien Cahen-Michel (1888-1980), all attracted by the quality of the landscape and the light. When Eugene Schopin founded in 1872 a ceramics factory, he worked with the painters to create a range of designs inspired by Impressionism and decorated according to new public demands. Several ceramic factories will develop around this Impressionist movement. The most famous, such as Georges Delvaux (1834-1909), Albert Boué (1862-1918) and Charles Alphonse Petit (1862-1927), will produce until 1922. Other manufacturers, such as Theodore Lefront...
Category
Late 19th Century French Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Faience, Ceramic, Majolica
Palissy Ware Majolica Ewer, Portuguese, Manuel Mafra, Caldas da Rainha
Located in Banner Elk, NC
Palissy Ware Majolica Ewer, Portuguese, circa 1880 by Manuel Mafra, Caldas da Rainha.
For over 28 years we have been among the Nation’s preeminent specialists in Fine antique Majolica.
Book Reference:
Marshall P. Katz, Portuguese Palissy Ware...
Category
1880s Portuguese Victorian Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica
Majolica Peach & Grey Shell Oyster Platter Sarreguemines, circa 1930
Located in Austin, TX
Majolica peach & grey shell oyster Platter Sarreguemines Circa 1930.
The platter have 12 shells between rope pattern and seaweeds.
Category
1930s French Victorian Vintage Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Majolica
Ceramic Plate Hand Painted Glazed Majolica Italy Contemporary 21st Century
Located in London, GB
"Eyes Protection" hand painted ceramic plate "SegnalEtica" series by Pantoù Ceramics, hand thrown and hand painted glazed earthenware. All unique pieces, Italy, 2019. Measure: 40 cm ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Majolica
Vallauris Yellow White Brown Ceramic Fat Lava Round Ashtray / Bowl, 1950s
By Vallauris
Located in Barcelona, ES
French mid-century Vallauris ashtray / bowl in multicolor glazed ceramic.
Beautiful fat lava glazed ceramic ashtray in yellow, amber, white and brown colors. Manufactured by Vallaur...
Category
20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Majolica
Pair of Early 20th Century Ceramic Barbotine Seashells Wall Hanging Plates
Located in Dallas, TX
This colorful pair of Majolica wall hanging plates was sculpted in France, circa 1920. Perfect for a seaside beach home, these colorful ceramic p...
Category
Early 20th Century French Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica
Antique Spanish Polychrome Ceramic Charger with a Bull Decoration
Located in Haddonfield, NJ
Circa 1800 Spanish Majolica Faience centerpiece bowl or charger.
This charming collectible antique painted ceramic dish is decorated with a large rear facing bull and with polychrom...
Category
Early 19th Century Spanish Folk Art Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Majolica
Brownfield Majolica Figure of a Child, Titled PAPA
Located in Chelmsford, Essex
Brownfield Majolica figure which features a young child wearing a grown ups hat and shoes, carrying an umbrella. Title, 'PAPA' molded into the base - French and Spanish for Dad. No d...
Category
1870s Victorian Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica
Blue Ceramic Potiche Centerpiece Vase Lid Majolica Hand Painted Deruta Italy
By deBlona
Located in Recanati, IT
Our elegant "Blue Parrots" potiche was handmade using the potter's wheel and then painted entirely by hand in Deruta, a town in central Italy that is among the most famous for majoli...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Majolica
Majolica Green-Glazed Geranium Plate, Hope & Carter, English, ca. 1880
Located in Banner Elk, NC
English majolica green-glazed 9.13-inch plate, with relief molded geranium plants and blossoms, with a shaped rim; the reverse with impressed mark: HOPE & CARTER, BURSLEM.
For thir...
Category
19th Century English Victorian Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica
Italian 19th Century Majolica Porcelain Centerpiece
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
A beautiful and most decorative Italian 19th century Majolica porcelain centerpiece. The oblong shaped centerpiece is raised by lovely scalloped movements at the base with most decor...
Category
19th Century Italian Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica
French Majolica Trompe L'oeil Wall Plaque with Oranges, Perret-Gentil, Menton
Located in Banner Elk, NC
Menton French Majolica (Barbotine) Trompe L'oeil Wall Plaque with oranges molded in high relief, circa 1880.
Generally referred to as "Menton," these rare pieces of Barbotine (Fren...
Category
19th Century French Belle Époque Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica
French Majolica Plate, Leaf and Fern, Greek Key Border on Yellow, Choisy-le-Roi
Located in Banner Elk, NC
French Majolica (Barbotine) plate, leaf and fern, with blue ribbon and Greek key border on a yellow ground by Choisy-le-Roi, ca. 1880.
For thirty years, we have been among the world...
Category
19th Century French Victorian Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica
Italian Faience 18th Century Majolica Riser with Annunciation
Located in Milan, IT
From Central Italy a 18th century Majolica Riser consisting of a flat circular dish with raised edge, resting on a base with a simple shape. The ...
Category
Mid-18th Century Italian Folk Art Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica
Vallauris Orange Amber Brown Ceramic Fat Lava Round Ashtray / Bowl, 1950s
By Vallauris
Located in Barcelona, ES
French mid-century Vallauris ashtray / bowl in multicolor glazed ceramic.
Beautiful fat lava glazed ceramic ashtray in orange, amber, white and brown colors. Manufactured by Vallaur...
Category
20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Majolica Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Majolica
Victorian Minton Majolica Marine Mermen Jardiniere Pink Interior
By Minton
Located in Chelmsford, Essex
Good. RESTORATION. A few filled chips to the rim. Filled chip to foot. Filled chip to head-dress.
Category
1870s English Victorian Antique Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica
Early 20th Century French Painted Porcelain Barbotine Vase with Children Figures
Located in Dallas, TX
Decorate a shelf with this colorful antique Majolica sculpture composition. Created in France, circa 1920, the porcelain vase features two young children, a boy siting on the basket ...
Category
Early 20th Century French Majolica Furniture
Materials
Majolica, Porcelain
Antique and Vintage Majolica Platters, Pottery and Other Furniture and Decor
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 majolica plates, pitchers, decorative objects and other pieces 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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