The eighteenth century preoccupaion with the importation ...

SCIENCE ON THE TABLE: A BOTANICAL APPROACH TO FLORALDECORATION ON PORCELAIN IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE EIGHTEENTH

CENTURY

by

Sara O'KeefeA Thesis

Submitted to theGraduate Faculty

ofGeorge Mason Universityin Partial Fulfillment of

The Requirements for the Degreeof

Master of ArtsHistory of Decorative Arts

Committee:

--------~~~

Program Director

Department Chairperson

Dean, College of Humanitiesand Social Sciences

Summer Semester 2014George Mason UniversityFairfax, VA

Science on the Table: A Botanical Approach to Floral Decoration on Porcelain in the

Second Half of the Eighteenth Century

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of

Arts History of Decorative Arts at George Mason University

By

Sara O’Keefe

Bachelor of Arts

Elon College, 2001

Director: Jennifer Goldsborough

Department of Arts History of Decorative Arts

Summer Semester 2014

George Mason University

Fairfax, VA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures iii

Abstract iv-vi

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

1. Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Josephine’s March Lily (Amaryllis Josephine). 6

2. Janet S. Williams, Brunsvigia Josephine. 6

3. Saucer. Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. 9

4. Sauceboat. Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory. 10

5. Linnaeus’ Sexual System. Georg Ehret. 11

6. Royal Copenhagen Manufactory “Flora Danica” “Anemone Silvestris L.”. 13

7. Coffeepot, Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. 19

8. Insect Study, Georg (Joris) Hoefnagel (Flemish, 1542-1601). 19

9. Engraving, Archetypa Studiaque Patris. 20

10. Chocolate Pot, Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. 21

11. Ten insects, after Hoefnagel. 22

12. Royal Copenhagen “Flora Danica” “Plantago (major*) Intermedia Gilib.”. 29

13. Flora Danica, “Plantago (major*) Intermedia Gilib.”. 30

14. Royal Copenhagen Manufactory “Polygala Vulgare”. 31

15. Flora Danica, “Polygala Vulgare”. 32

16. “Flora Danica” Service. 34

17. “Vessel” Pot Pourri, Sèvres Manufactory. 36

18. Sèvres Manufactory “Service des Liliacées”. 38

19. Redouté “Veltheimia Glauca”. 40

20. Chelsea Porcelain Factory “Hans Sloane” “Honeysuckle”. 44

21. Georg Ehret” “Honeysuckle”. 45

22. Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory “Hans Sloane” “Acacia Americana”. 46

23. Georg Ehret “Acacia Americana”. 47

24. Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory “Hans Sloane” “Common Sweet Maudlin”. 48

25. Georg Ehret “Common Sweet Maudlin”. 49

26. Wedgwood “Queen’s ware” “Husk Service”. 54

27. Wedgwood “Queens ware” “Husk Service”, “Phlox”. 55

28. Tea Caddy, Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. 57

29. Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory “Hans Sloane”. 58

iii

ABSTRACT

SCIENCE ON THE TABLE: A BOTANICAL APPROACH TO FLORAL

DECORATION ON PORCELAIN IN THE SECOND HALD OF THE 18TH

CENTURY

Sara O’Keefe, M.A.

George Mason University, 2014

Thesis Director: Jennifer Goldsborough

Following a period of excess and frivolity in the Decorative Arts with the Rococo,

the Enlightenment, with its emphasis on science, along with discoveries through global

exploration, catalyzed an interest in nature which came to the forefront in the decorative

arts, specifically porcelain, created in the second half of 18th

century. This fascination

encouraged the creation of porcelain items, which replicated natural discoveries, and,

communicated, not just the wealth of the owner, but their intellectual eminence in the

scrutiny of the natural world. In a period when floral decoration on porcelain is formally

divided between styles inspired by the Far East or Germany, there is, in fact, another

approach to floral decoration, initiated by science, which reflects a third distinct fashion

at the time.

The Enlightenment with its emphasis on science and reason found inspiration in

nature. Free from subjugation to King and Church, people were able to use their minds to

embrace the splendor and order found in the natural world and to use the scholarly

5

knowledge to explain and control their existence. Scientific advances, exploration and

political philosophy empowered humanity to pursue and attain, through their newfound

awareness, happiness and insight through the physical world. On the dining table,

porcelain objects were created to reinforce this appreciation of scholarship. The Chelsea

“Hans Sloane” pattern and “Flora Danica” of the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain

Manufactory, painted with the most accurate and scientific botanical imagery, were

created, replicating studied illustrations by Oeder, Ehret, and others for the intellectual

consumer. This scientific approach to decoration was novel, in that it was inspired by and

created for an intellectual thinker.

Overall, much literary work has covered the intent of Enlightenment thinkers.

Likewise, there is ample documentation of the botanical catalogues made by voyagers,

scientists and artists of the time. In the Arts, much has been written about porcelain

decoration in the late 18th

century and there is a plethora of resources from which to draw

on for research on the objects. However, this thesis will study a distinct style in the

portrayal of botanicals at the time, which was inspired by science and the Enlightenment.

There is little research on the genre of science on the table: scientific floral decoration on

porcelain in the second half of the 18th

century. This document will delve into 18th

century exploration, enlightened philosophy and scientific study, which converged to

make science a fashionable decoration on porcelain made in the second half of the 18th

century.

Through extensive research of the “Flora Danica” collection of porcelain, along

with Chelsea and other English porcelain, this examination will analyze the influence of

6

the Enlightenment thinkers, such as Sir Hans Sloane and G.C. Oeder, their journals,

books, and, illustrations, on the decoration of porcelain for the dining table, which

allowed for the actualization of a distinct third way, the scientific style, in portraying

floral decoration. It is this crossroad of liberated mind, with art, which made methodical

decoration, in the precise depiction of flora, a prominent style for the elite intellectual and

a vehicle for them to communicate their new aspirations.

7

Science on the Table: A Botanical Approach to Floral Decoration on Porcelain in the

Second Half of the Eighteenth Century

INTRODUCTION

Following a period of excess and frivolity in the Decorative Arts with the Rococo, the

Enlightenment, with its emphasis on science, catalyzed an interest in nature which came

to the forefront in the decorative arts, specifically porcelain, created in the second half of

eighteenth century. Scientific fascination, along with discoveries through global

exploration, encouraged the creation of porcelain items, which replicated natural

discoveries, and, communicated, not just the status of the owner, but their intellectual

eminence in the scrutiny of the natural world. In a period when floral decoration on

ceramics is formally divided between styles inspired by the Far East or Germany, there is,

in fact, another approach to floral decoration initiated by science which reflects a third

distinct fashion. The separate decorative style resulted from the age of Enlightenment and

a new interest in natural history.

8

THE ENLIGHTENMENT: KEY PLAYERS IN NATURAL SCIENCE AND BOTANY

Esteemed men such as Sir Hans Sloane, Josiah Wedgwood, and Erasmus Darwin, men

who prized understanding and learning would use ceramics with botanical illustrations to

promote the work of their fellow naturalists, and to promote the dissemination of

knowledge.1 Royalty such as King Christian XVII of Denmark, regarded for their

Enlightened philosophy, commissioned porcelain services based on botanical journals

compiled by highly regarded natural scientists to further demonstrate their intelligence,

celebrate their countries’ beauty and to encourage scientific comprehension among their

courts.2

Men who embraced ceramic decoration based on natural science journals moved

among a heady group of intellectuals, philosophers, scientists, artists and adventurers.

This group of Enlightenment thinkers, after centuries of Church control of thought,

science and art, were finally able to explore and promote their ideas of the natural world

and human kind. Having traveled throughout the European continent, men in London

began to assemble societies, such as the Society Dilettanti, founded by the men such as

1 R.E. Schofield, The Lunar Society at Birmingham: A Social History of

Provincial Science and Industry in Eighteenth-century England (Oxford:

Clarendon Press, 1963), 222. 2 “Popular Education,” The Royal Library,

www.kb.dk/en/tema/floradanica/folkeoplysning.html (April 7, 2014)

9

Francis Dashwood, 15th

Baron le Despencer, to discuss classical and antiquarian

architecture, art and style, as well as to share their collected information.3 Members of the

Society Dilettanti included famous men such as the artist Sir Joshua Reynolds and Sir

Joseph Banks who traveled on a notable adventure with Captain James Cook from 1768

to 1771 in Brazil.45

Their interest in the natural sciences lead to the formation of the

Royal Academy “an 'invisible college' of natural philosophers who began meeting in the

mid-1640s to discuss the new philosophy promoting knowledge of the natural world

through observation and experiment, which we now call science.”6 Also, in England, a

young potter and chemist Josiah Wedgwood, along with his friend and relative Erasmus

Darwin shared ideas with likeminded men in the Lunar Society, established in 1775,

which assembled Enlightenment thinkers in the Midlands area of England. These well-

known men had extensive reach among the international Enlightenment community.

Their work was instrumental in facilitating the transition of the study of natural sciences

into the development of industrial science in England.7

Darwin also founded the Lichfield Botanical Society, which painstaking

undertook the seven-year project of translating the works of the preeminent botanist Carl

Linnaeus from Latin into English, resulting in the publication of A System of Vegetables

3 Lionel Cust and Sidney Colvin, History of the Society Dilettanti (London:

MacMillan, 1914) 8. 4 Lionel Cust and Sidney Colvin, History of the of Society Dilettanti (London:

MacMillan, 1914) 58. 5 “Sir Joseph Banks,” Australian Dictionary of Biography.

Adb.anu.edu.au/biography/banks-sir-joseph-1737 (April 7, 2014) 6 “History,” The Royal Society.

Royalsociety.org/about-us/history/ (April 7, 2014) 7 Jennifer Uglow, The Lunar Men: Five Friends Whose Curiosity Changed the

World (New York: Farrar, Starus and Giroux, 2002) xvii.

10

(1783-1785) and The Families of Plants (1787).8 Carl Linnaeus, of Sweden, worked to

exact a classification system for the zoological, ornithological and horticultural

specimens he had amassed. His two-name order, rooted in Latin, became the standard for

the scientific identification of the natural world.9 French Enlightenment philosopher Jean

Jacques Rousseau wrote of Linnaeus “Tell him I know no greater man on earth”.10

Likewise, the German writer and politician Johan Wolfgang von Goethe said of Linnaeus

“With the exception of Shakespeare ad Spinoza, I know no one among the no longer

living who has influenced me more strongly”.11

Based on Linnaeus’s genius, and using

his library and collection, Sir James Edward Smith, an English Botanist, was able to

establish the Linnean Society of London in 1788, devoted to the application of all natural

sciences.12

In 1789, Darwin wrote a book of poems titled The Botanic Garden, which was

engraved by the romantic artist William Blake and reinforced Linnaeus’s sexual system

for botanicals. The Botanic Garden presented an anthropomorphized approach to

botanical anatomy, and the illustrations by Blake feminized and sexualized the botanical

8 Carl Von Linné, and Erasmus Darwin, A System of Vegetables…(Lichfield: J.

Jackson for Leigh & Sotheby, London, 1783) 8. 9 “Why is Linnaeus World-Famous,” Uppsala Universitet.

www.linnaeus.uu.se/online/life/1_0.html (April 7, 2014) 10

“What People Have Said About Linnaeus,” Uppsala Univeritet.


“What People Have Said About Linnaeus,” Uppsala Univeritet.


“The Society,” The Linnean Society of London.

www.linnean.org/The-Society (April 7, 2014)

11

world.13

Significantly, Darwin emphasized the variability of botany and its contribution

to the progress of the natural world through the process of transmutation.14

In addition,

Josiah Wedgwood’s son John and his friend William Hooker, Horticultural Director at

Kew, and both members of the Linnean society co-founded the Royal Horticultural

Society in 1804.15

In the eighteenth century both gardening and porcelain were considered to be fine

arts. Botany was one, if not the first, acceptable scientific pursuits for women. Queen

Charlotte of Great Britain was a champion of the arts and was also considered to be an

ardent botanist who worked with William Hooker to expand the gardens at Kew.16

Likewise, Empress Josephine of France shared a passion for botany and was a patron of

the botanical artist Redouté, who was informed by the specimens delivered to Malmaison

by plant hunters.17

The detail and accuracy of Redouté’s drawings illustrate the

Enlightenment approach to science and rationalism. (Figures 1 and 2) These inter-related

13

Janet Browne, Botany for Gentlemen: Erasmus Darwin and “The Loves of the

Plants,” Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard.

Dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/3353945/Browne_botany.pdf?squen

ce+2 (April 7, 2014) 14

Janet Browne, Botany for Gentlemen: Erasmus Darwin and “The Loes of the

Plants,” Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard.

dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/3353945/Browne_botany.pdf?sequen

ce=2 (April 7, 2014) 15

“Natural History on a Plate – Exploring the Link between Wedgwood and

Darwin,” National Museums Liverpool.

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/picture-of-

month/displaypicture.aspx?id=364 (April 7, 2014) 16

“History and Heritage: Timeline: 1841 to 1885,” Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

www.kew.org/heritage/timeline/1841to1885_consolidating.html (April 7,

2014) 17

Marianne Roland-Michael, The Floral Art of Pierre-Joseph Redouté (London:

Francis Lincoln Limited, 2002) 17.

http://www.kew.org/heritage/timeline/1841to1885_consolidating.html

12

organizations became honored professional associations as the once curious became

experts in natural science.

Figure 1. Watercolor on Vellum, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Josephine’s March Lily

(Amaryllis Josephine), ca. 1802-1805. Photo Courtesy Collection Myrna and Ira Brind.

Figure 2. Photograph, Janet S. Williams, Brunsvigia Josephine. Photo Courtesy

University of California, Botanical Garden, Berkley.

13

SEVENTEETH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS IN CERAMICS

Tradesmen from the Dutch East India Company first imported porcelain products to

Europe from China.18

By the mid-seventeenth century civil wars, resulting from the fall

of the Ming dynasty, disrupted the porcelain trade in China and forced merchants to turn

to Japan for products.19

Japanese porcelain wares produced in factories around Arita were

decorated with the Kakiemon style of botanical decoration. These Japanese designs came

to known as Indianische Blumen in Europe and beginning in the 1720s were replicated,

initially by Meissen, then by artificial porcelain factories in France such as Saint-Cloud

and Chantilly, as well as in England by Wedgwood and Staffordshire. By the 1740s

popular tastes changed and Meissen, Sèvres, Chelsea and other prominent porcelain

manufactories began to decorate in the more fashionable European styles of decoration,

such as Deutsche Blumen.

In the eighteenth century, Europe was consumed by a fascination for porcelain.

Initially imported from Asia, the desire to acquire expensive Chinese porcelain was

18

“Indianische Blume,” Encyclopædia Britannica.

www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/286080/indianische-Blume (April

7, 2014) 19

“Indianische Blumen,” Encyclopædia Britannica.

www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/286080/indianische-Blume (April

7, 2014)

14

draining national treasuries and forcing nations into bankruptcy.20

Out of economic

necessity, and to profit from consumer demands for the exquisite ceramic product,

European countries began to explore methods to manufacture porcelain domestically.

This transfer of knowledge over country borders joined with experimentation in the

science of production is characteristic of the Enlightenment.

The lure of scientific discovery beckoned curious men to travel the world, to

analyze the unknown and to publish their discoveries. In parallel, the newly discovered

porcelain wares from Asia were assiduously investigated in Europe, and coveted for their

novelty. The intersection of travel and curiosity was endemic to the eighteenth century.

Ultimately, the extravagant cost of imported porcelain, paired with the domestic

European demands for porcelain products, necessitated the production of porcelain in

Europe. The Meissen Manufactory in Germany was the first to develop the porcelain

material, and, therefore, the illustrious title of the first true (hard-paste) porcelain

produced in Europe was bestowed upon them.21

Beginning in the 1720s, the manufactory

initially produced goods in the Indianische Blumen genre of stylized exotic flowers as

was in vogue which replicated imported Japanese porcelain in the Kakiemon style.

(Figure 3)

20

Janet Gleeson, The Arcanum: The Extraordinary True Story (New York:

Warner Books, 1998) xi. 21

Jeffrey Munger, “German and Austrian Porcelain in the Eighteenth Century,”

The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd?hd_porg.html (April 7, 2014)

15

Figure 3. Saucer, Meissen Porcelain Manufactory, ca. 1729-1731. Photo Courtesy

Victoria and Albert Museum.

However by the 1740s, as fashion changed, they also designed pieces in a

decidedly European style of decoration with bouquets of flowers, spray and sprigs of

native flora known as the Deutsche Blumen style.22

(Figure 4) The Deutsche Blumen

style stemmed from and was related to earlier naturalistic decoration on Germanic glass.

22

“Deutsche Blumen,” Encyclopædia Britannica.

www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/159777/deutsche-Blumen (April 7,

2014)

16

First produced in Germany by Meissen this style of porcelain decoration was rooted in a

sense of European nationalism, which celebrated domestic flora idealistically portrayed.

Figure 4. Sauceboat, Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory, ca. 1755. Photo Courtesy Brian

Haughton Gallery.

Initially developed by Meissen, these two botanical designs, Indianische Blumen and

Deutsche Blumen, were replicated by the newly established manufactories throughout

Europe, on cream-colored earthenware in England by Wedgwood, and artificial (soft-

paste) porcelain in France by Sèvres. As the ability to manufacture refined earthenware

spread throughout Europe, parallel scientific discoveries were being made in the natural

world by Enlightenment explorers. During the eighteenth century the study of botany was

17

considered to be a fine art, an academic pursuit and an illuminating contribution to

society with potential economic value. The confluence of these assignations is evidenced

by the illustration by Georg Ehret in collaboration with Carl Linnaeus to document the

botanical system of sexes by Carl Linnaeus. (Figure 5)

Figure 5. Linnaeus’ Sexual System, Georg Ehret, dated 1736. Photo Courtsey Uppsala

Universitet.

18

Given the Enlightenment philosophy’s promotion of science, quest for discovery

and interest in the workings of the natural world, the study of nature was greatly

promoted and discoveries were widely disseminated. From either traveling around the

world or meticulously studying their private gardens these naturalists knew that

knowledge and revelation would come from analysis and comprehension. The increased

attentiveness to nature and the promotion of scientific thought in the Enlightenment

philosophy had successfully encouraged a connection between the individual and the

natural world and fostered a need to truly understand and explain all that surrounded

them.23

These men were enamored with every detail of their pragmatic discoveries. The

world had been reborn to new eyes. These scholars cherished information and the ideal

manner to disseminate this information among the educated and demonstrate their

academic acumen to the elite was to display the discoveries. The material was presented

in compendiums of the natural world, or more fashionably, as resplendent artistry on

mediums such as ceramics for the table. Used to spur discussion at the table, cherished

for their novelty, and, fortifying the enlightened mind of the possessor, these Natural

Science services were an encyclopædia of the natural world. (Figure 6)

23

Jennifer Uglow, The Lunar Men: Five Friends Whose Curiosity Changed the

World (New York: Farrar, Starus and Giroux, 2002) xviii.

19

Figure 6. Plate, Royal Copenhagen Manufactory “Flora Danica” “Anemone Silvestris

L.”, 20th

century. Photo Courtesy Flora Danica Online.

20

PORCELAIN AND NATURAL SCIENCE JOURNALS

Everywhere Enlightenment thinking was free to thrive scientists, botanists and naturalists

were cataloging and producing material documenting the natural world. In Denmark, the

Flora Danica catalogue by Oeder served as the basis for the “Flora Danica” set made by

Royal Copenhagen and used by King Christian VII.24

In Germany, Meissen designers

were looking to sixteenth century illustrations of the natural world by Joris Hoefnagel

and eighteenth century compendiums, such as Weinmann’s Phytanthoza Iconographia.25

In England, Wedgwood’s natural science curiosities were shared and emblazoned

through the studies of Erasmus Darwin, the work of Carl Linnaeus and The Botanic

Garden. The Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory under Nicholas Sprimont culled inspiration

from Philip Miller’s Physic gardens in Chelsea, as illustrated by Georg Dionysius Ehret

in The Gardener’s Dictionary.26

At the turn of the nineteenth century Sèvres, realizing

the vogue for scientific botanical designs on porcelain, created “Service des Liliacées”,

which pictured botanical illustrations found in Pierre Joseph Redouté’s Les Liliacées

published from 1802 to 1816. A favorite of Empress Josephine of France, Redouté was a

24

“The Dinner Set,” The Royal Library.

www.kb.dk/en/tema/floradanica/stellet/html (April 7, 2014) 25

Ulrich Pietsch and Claudia Valter, Schwanenservice: Meissen Porzellan fur

Heinrich Graf von Brühl (Berlin: Edition Leipzig, 2000) 65. 26

“Robyn Robb – A5,” The International Ceramics Fair and Seminar.

http://www.haughton.com/system/image_bucket/ceramics_2009.pdf

(April 7, 2014)

21

fashionable and influential artist during the First Empire. Twentieth century

reproductions by Royal Crown Derby and Portmeirion mimicked the original styles and

continue to mass-produce natural science based botanical designs on porcelain through

Modern times.

22

MEISSEN “HOLZSCHNITT BLUMEN”

The establishment of the Meissen porcelain factory begins with the story of the alchemist

Johann Frederick Böttger. Tasked by Augustus II, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony,

in the late seventeenth century, to discover the alchemy to create gold, Böttger became a

prisoner of the king. The prospect of having a limitless supply of gold made Böttger too

valuable to be free, and possibly captured by other European kingdoms; and later his

inability to conjure gold made him an embarrassment to the king who had invested so

much financially and publicly in the man.27

Simultaneously the outbreak of war with

Sweden had put a heavy financial burden on Saxony. On June 8, 1707, Böttger met with

King Augustus and presented his plan. Given the great commercial value of Chinese

porcelain, Böttger, subsidized by the Crown, would focus on creating the formula to

manufacture true porcelain. In late 1708, Böttger, who worked under the supervision of

Ehrenfried Tschirnhaus, announced the successful development of the recipe for true

porcelain.28

27

Janet Gleeson, The Arcanum: The Extraordinary Story (New York: Warner

Books, 1998) 62. 28


Books, 1998) .

23

The porcelain product would bring Augustus great prestige throughout Europe and

ultimately prove to be financially lucrative for Saxony in the 1720s when made

commercially available.29

The quality of and styling of Meissen porcelain became

renowned throughout the world for its imitation of Asian decoration and innovation of

vessel forms for new beverages.30

The advent of scientific botanical illustration on porcelain appeared on pieces

designed by the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory circa 1740.31

The first of this new vogue

for scientifically illustrated botany could be seen on porcelain painted in the style of J. G.

Klinger.32

Generally referred to as Deutsche Blumen, which comprises naturalistic

depictions of native European flowers, this transitional style of floral decoration on

porcelain, specifically coined “Holzschnitt Blumen”, depicts “woodcut flowers”

engravings.33

Floral illustrations on Meissen porcelain, called “Holzschnitt Blumen” were

early designs based on natural science studies. Porcelain painters such as Klinger would

replicate the colorized copper engravings of plant and insect specimens found in natural

science journals. One such book Klinger looked to for source material titled Archetypa

29


Books, 1998) . 30


Books, 1998) . 31

“Meissen Coffee Pot and Cover,” National Museum of American History.

http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1366095

(April 7, 2014) 32

“Lot 237/Sale 5193,” Christie’s.

www.christies.com/lotfinder/LotDetailsPrintable.spx?intObjectID=307245

7 (April 7, 2014) 33

“The De Winton Collection of European Porcelain,” National Museum of

Wales. www.museumwales.ac.uk/104/ (April 7, 2014)

24

Studiaque Patris by Joris Hoefnagel and engraved by his son Jacob dated to 1592.34

Reproduced in the early eighteenth century by the printmaker and publisher Christoph

Weigel, the Archetpya became a contemporary source for designers of natural history

illustrations, which abetted the emerging fascination with scientific study.35

As court

artist to the Emperor Rudolf II in Prague, Joris Hoefnagel was tasked with documenting

the King’s growing Kunstkammer or Cabinet of Curiosities.36

Resulting from expeditions

around the world, the collection included insect specimens, shells, and other natural

history taxonomy. This coffeepot made by Meissen circa 1740 evidently reinforces

Meissen’s consultation and imitation of images from compendiums such as Joris

Hoefnagel’s Archetypa Studiaque Patris. (Figure 7) The insect designs on the porcelain

pot are identical to the engravings by Hoefnagel. (Figures 8 and 9)

34

Meissen Coffee Pot and Cover,” National Museum of American History.


(April 7, 2014) 35



(April 7, 2014) 36



(April 7, 2014)

25

Figure 7. Coffeepot, Meissen Porcelain Manufactory, ca. 1740. Photo Courtesy

Sotheby’s.

Figure 8. Insects and the Head of a Wind God, Georg (Joris) Hoefnagel (Flemish, 1542-

1601), ca. 1590-1600. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Darwin Morse.

26

Figure 9. Engraving, Archetypa Studiaque Patris, Georgii Hoefnagelii (Frankfurt, 1592),

Jacob Hoefnagel (Flemish, ca. 1573-after 1632). The British Museum (photo: T. H.

Clarke).

Similarly, the chocolate pot by Meissen made circa 1740 is decorated with Hoefnagel

designs. (Figure 10) Noticeably, this pot shows the “Holzschnitt Blumen” approach to

Deutsche Blumen decoration on porcelain, which displayed the flowers individually,

rather than in robust clusters. Note the insects on the upper left and lower left sides of the

pot, which portray trompe-l’oeil butterflies depicted by Joris Hoefnagel in Archetypa

Studiaque Patris. (Figure 11)

27

Figure 10. Chocolate Pot, Meissen Porcelain Manufactory, ca. 1740. Photo Courtesy

Smithsonian.

28

Figure 11. Ten insects, after Hoefnagel, one of 179 drawings from the 1637 album;

including three species of dragonfly, a grasshopper, a wood-wasp, a frosted orange moth

and a cricket Watercolor and bodycolor, heightened with white, Drawn by Veit Spierincx

(Drawn by), Joris Hoefnagel (After) Jacob Hoefnagel (After), ca. 1600-1620. Photo

Courtesy The British Museum.

29

MEISSEN “BRÜHL’SCHE ALLERLEI”

Based on the Phytanthoza Iconographia by Weinmann, the Meissen Porelain

Manufactory designed a set in 1742-1746 called the “Brühl’sche Allerlei” named in

honor of Count Heinrich von Brühl, patron of the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. Count

von Brühl’s designs clearly blend the traditional “Holzschnitt Blumen” style, used by

Klinger on the earlier Meissen set, which depicts native flowers, along with the natural

science approach to botanical decoration. The sprigs and sprays, are bunched and

sparsely arranged around the perimeter of the plate, with the new decoration of flora in

the scientific style, based on Ehret’s illustrations for Weinmann at the center. (Figures 12

and 13)

30

Figure 12. Plate, Meissen Porcelain Manufactor “Brühl’sche Allerlei”, ca.1742. Photo

Courtesy Bonhams.

Figure 13. Engraving, Phytanthoza Iconographia “Chrysanthemum Indicum flore et

semine maximum”, ca. 1737-42. Photo Courtesy Vandekar.

31

The “Brühl’sche Allerlei” is a collection of over 2,000 pieces comprising a

dinner, dessert and coffee service.37

Produced from 1742-1746 the set was modeled by

J.F. Eberlein and proved to be one of Meissen’s most popular patterns into the nineteenth

century, which reinforces the period’s fascination with, promotion of and patronage of

Enlightenment rationalism.38

The decoration on ‘Brühl’sche Allerlei” follows

contemporary scientific illustrations engraved by Georg Dionysius Ehret at the

commission of Johann Weinmann in Germany in 1730.39

The Phytanthoza Iconographia

is a catalogue of botanical specimens commissioned by Weinmann, an apothecary and

botanist, and drawn by Ehret.40

As an apothecary, Weinmann wanted to create a

compendium to document medicinal plants. He hired Ehret, a botanist and entomologist,

who excelled in illustrations of the natural world and had recently collaborated on Hortus

Cliffortianus with Carl Linnaeus and George Clifford, to undertake an ambitious

commission to catalogue and diagram 1,000 plates of works.41

However, ill treated,

poorly paid, and overworked, Ehret abandoned his project to seek more fair and lucrative

assignments, with the confidence of already possessing fame for his skill and having

37

“Lot 132,” Bonhams.

www.bonhams.com/auctions/16890/lot/132/ (June 16, 2014) 38

“Plate, from the Brühl’sche Allerlei Service,” National Gallery of Victoria.

www.ngv.vic.gov/col/work/17672 (April 7, 2014) 39

Ulrich Pietsch and Claudia Valter, Schwanenservice: Meissen Porzellan fur

Heinrich Graf von Brühl (Berlin: Edition Leipzig, 2000) 65. 40

“Georg Dionys Ehret Collection,” Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation.

Huntbot.andrew.cmu.edu/HISBD/Departments/Art/Ehret.shtml (April 7,

2014) 41

“Georg Dionys Ehret Collection,” Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation.

Huntbot.andrew.cmu.edu/HISBD/Departments/Art/Ehret.shtml (April 7,

2014)

32

important horticultural contacts.42

Ehret’s attention to detail, painterly skill and unequaled

keenness for observation is evident in the 500 of engravings he made for Weinmann,

which are assembled to create the Phytanthoza Iconographia.

This combination of the Deutsche Blumen style of “Holzschnitt Blumen”, along

with the scientific botanical style based on natural science journals was favored by Count

von Brühl for his service and is emblematic of the two distinctive styles of floral

decoration. “Holzschnitt Blumen” although, based on woodblock carvings and natural

history journal illustrations, is more allegorical, and provincially ideal in essence. The

botanicals are illustrated in nationalistic veneration of domestic European flora depicted

in the woodblock print style. Idyllically bundled and assembled the “Holzschnitt

Blumen” is evidently different from the individual reality of the scientific botanical

illustrations at center. Depicted without embellishment, the images from the Phytanthoza

Iconographia by Weinmann portray plants as they are in nature, without human

intervention, as specimens. This Meissen set reinforces the notion that there was in fact a

distinct third style of floral decoration in the eighteenth century, not inspired by stylized

Asian floral imagery, as with Indianische Blumen, or robust and ornate styled bouquets

of floral design, called Deutsche Blumen, or flat woodblock portrayals of European flora,

as with the subset category of “Holzschnitt Blumen”, but singularly inspired by the

botanical journals of naturalists and scientists, which accurately and precisely depict the

flora found throughout the world.

42

“Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708-1770),” Natural History Museum.

www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/art-nature-imaging/collections/art-

themes/drawingconclusions/more/carica_more_info.htm (April 7, 2014)

33

The eighteenth century was indeed the gold age of botanical science. In order to

share scientific knowledge and to make it accessible to the public it was displayed

stylishly as art. Mrs. Delaney gained fame for her intricate and exact details of flora

created using colored paper. A friend of the Duchess of Portland, namesake to the famed

ancient Roman cameo glass vase copied by Wedgwood in his jasperware ceramics, Mrs.

Delaney had access to the Duchesses extensive collection of natural history ephemera.43

Mrs. Delaney’s collages are beautifully crafted and exquisitely prepared. The illustration

of botany scientifically, painted on ceramics, constructed as collage folios, such as the

impeccable works by Mrs. Delaney’s “Flora Delanica”, on textiles and cultivated for

enjoyment in public gardens highlight the vogue for this style of depicting flora.44

The

golden age of botanical exploration in the eighteenth century was thriving both for

practical purposes in science and decoratively in art.

43

Marty Ross, “Cuttings; When Euope’s Flora Flourished on Porcelain,” New

York Times, January 6 2002.

www.nytimes.com/2002/01/06/nyregion/cuttings-when-flora-flourished-

on-porcelain.html (June 16, 2014) 44

Marty Ross, “Cuttings; When Europe’s Flora Flourished on Porcelain,” New

York Times, January 6 2002.

www.nytimes.com/2002/01/06/nyregion/cuttings-when-flora-flourished-

on-porcelain.html (June 16, 2014)

34

ROYAL COPENHAGEN “FLORA DANICA”

The Royal Danish Porcelain Manufactory was established in 1775.45

Financially backed

by the Royal Family, the factory produced true porcelain based on the recipe developed

by Frantz Heinrich Müller.46

The factory was privately acquired in 1868 and relocated

from Copenhagen to Frederiksburg in 1882-1884.47

The factory continues to produce

high quality true porcelain wares, exquisitely decorated and handcrafted.

Crown Prince Frederik on behalf of King Christian VII of Denmark

commissioned the “Flora Danica” set.48 Intended as a gift for Empress Catherine the

Great of Russia, the set was not yet completed upon her death in 1796.49 As a result, the

service stayed in Denmark and was used by King Christian VII on January 29, 1803 at

his birthday celebration.50 Based on designs in the encyclopædia Flora Danica initiated

by Oeder and subsequently worked on by twelve other court-appointed botanists, each of

45

“Company History, “ Royal Copenhagen.

www.royalcopenhagen.com/en/about-us/history/5/5 (April 21, 2014) 46









“Royal Copenhagen Flora Danica,” Danish Porcelain Online.

www.danishporcelainonline.com/non_frame_pags/rc/rc_floradanica_list.h

tm (April 7, 2014)

35

the nearly 2,000 pieces in the set, depict some of the 3,240 plates of wild flowers and

plants native to Denmark catalogued in Oeder’s book.51 (Figures 14 and 15)

Figure 14. Plate, Royal Copenhagen “Flora Danica” “Plantago (major*) Intermedia

Gilib.”, 20th

century. Photo Courtesy Floral Danica Online.

51

“About Flora Danica,” The Royal Library.

www.kb.dk/en/tema/floradanica/stellet/html (April 7, 2014)

36

Figure 15, Engraving, Flora Danica, “Planr’tago (major*) Intermedia Gilib.”, dated 1871.

Photo Courtesy The Royal Library.

37

The porcelain, aptly nicknamed ‘White Gold’ for its value, is hand-molded and

hand-painted by Johann Bayer, who was selected by Oeder himself in 1769.52 Bayer was

an esteemed artist and his expertise is evident in the designs on the “Flora Danica” set.

His life project, the set was delivered in 1802.53 The perfection of the central illustrations,

along with the border rimmed with gold, reflects the wealth and prestige of the patron.

(Figure 16)

Figure16. Plate, Royal Copenhagen Manufactory “Polygala Vulgare”, 20th

century. Photo

Courtesy Flora Danica Online.

52

“Royal Copenhagen Flora Danica,” Danish Porcelain Online.

www.danishporcelainonline/com/non_frame_pags/rc/rc_floradanica_list.h

tm (April 7, 2014) 53



38

However, the study of the wild flowers of Denmark, depicted, not stylistically, but

accurately, with roots and seeds speak to the owner as an Enlightenment thinker with a

keen appreciation for the world, and scientific acumen to appreciate the medicinal and

scientific merits of botany. (Figure 17)

Figure 17, Engraving, Flora Danica, “Polygala Vulgare”, dated 1770. Photo Courtesy The

Royal Library.

39

Fascinated with the study of nature, and science, King Christian promoted the

dissemination of botanical knowledge throughout the kingdom, going so far as to freely

distribute copies of the Flora Danica compendium “to spread…knowledge about native

plants. Spreading of plant-knowledge among the inhabitants of the country must be

encouraged, since botany cannot be of general use as long as it is only a science for…a

few botanists.”54 King Christian himself implemented many widespread social reforms

under the influence of Johann Friedrich Struensee, an Enlightenment philosopher, who

served as physician to the King. This set of porcelain, which today remains in production

by the Royal Copenhagen Manufactory, continues to retain its esteem and allure. The

refinement of artistry, detail of craftsmanship, and unequivocal sophistication of subject

matter, enabled the “Flora Danica” porcelain to be style setter among polite society into

the twenty-first century. The late Princess Grace of Monaco, in her book on flowers

complimented the set as being “One of the most delicate and beautiful porcelain

patterns.” 55 Nearly 200 pieces of the Flora Danica set are on display at Christiansborg

Castle and an astounding 1,500 pieces of the service remain today, making the Flora

Danica set the largest surviving service of eighteenth century porcelain.56 (Figure 18)

54

“Popular Education,” The Royal Library.


Princess Grace of Monaco and Gwen Robyns. My Book of Flowers (Garden

City, NY: Doubleday, 1980) xx. 56



40

Figure 18, Photograph, “Flora Danica” Service, ca. 1860. Photo Courtesy The Danish

Royal Collections.

41

SÉVRES “SERVICE DES LILIACÉES”

Louis XV, like other princes throughout Europe, spent a vast amount of resources

acquiring elegant porcelain from China and Japan. Upon learning of the Meissen

porcelain manufactories success in developing the recipe for true porcelain, he too

realized the value of establishing a porcelain factory in France, which would bolster the

country’s economy. Early artificial porcelain factories were established in Saint-Cloud

and Chantilly and predominately created porcelain wares decorated in the Indianische

Blumen style. In 1738, Louis XV financed the Vincennes factory, which relocated in

1756, and was renamed the Sèvres Factory.57

The factory never developed the recipe for

true porcelain, instead producing pâte tender or artificial porcelain.58

However, under the

influence of the stylish Madame du Pompadour, the factory created exquisite Rococo

pieces in Chinoiserie and European styles, which were painted with yellow, blue and rose

colors around white reserves and with ornate gilding that became a trademark, along with

Louis XV’s interlocking L’s of the Sèvres style. (Figure 19)

57


Books, 1998) 201. 58


Books, 1998) 201.

42

Figure 19. “Vessel” Pot Pourri, Sèvres Manufactory, ca. 1760. Photo Courtesy Museé du

Louvre / Thierry Olliver.

Interrupted by the Seven Year War between Saxony and Sweden the Meissen porcelain

factory output became limited.59

This weakness coincided with a resurrection at the

59


Books, 1998) 295.

43

Sèvres factory to make the royal enterprise profitable. Under the direction of Alexandre

Brongniart (1770 to 1847) and along with the acquisition of the true porcelain recipe

from Meissen, the Sèvres factory began to efficiently produce fashionable true porcelain

goods with commercial success throughout Europe circa 1800.60

The Sèvres porcelain manufactory in France seized on the newfound popularity of

science, the Enlightenment, exploration, and, botany, and designed a porcelain collection

in the scientific botanical style. In 1821, the factory created a line of Botanical Specimen

plates named the “Service des Liliacées” based on the folio illustrations by the French

naturalist Pierre Joseph Redouté in Les Liliacées. 61 Published between 1802 and 1816,

Redouté was a celebrated artist and garnered much fame for his travels and study of

botany. Redouté intended to illustrate plants “with all the fidelity that science can desire,

and, which is more difficult, with the luxury of detail with which nature has embellished

them,”62

This plate titled “Velthimia Glauque” or “Western Cape Sand Lily” is unique,

because it is the only piece of the set to survive.63 Also, this plate is significant because it

is a beautiful example of how botanically illustrated flora includes the scientific and

60

Jeffrey Munger, “Sèvres Porcelain in the Nineteenth Century,”

The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/sevr/hd_sevr.htm (May 28, 2014) 61

“Plate from the ‘Sèvres des Liliacées’,” Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens.

http://trio.hillwoodmuseum.org/detail.php?type=related&kv=19328&t=obj

ects (April 7, 2014) 62

“Pierre-Joseph Redoute: Lilies from Album de Redouté (1824),” George Glazer

Gallery.

http://www.georgeglazer.com/prints/nathist/botanical/redoulilyinv/redoulil

yinv.html (May 5, 2014) 63



ects (April 7, 2014)

http://trio.hillwoodmuseum.org/detail.php?type=related&kv=19328&t=objects




44

empirical documentation of a variety of indigenous vegetations – not strictly limited to

German flora as the present misnomer for the style “Deutsche Blumen” implies.64 (Figure

20)

Figure 20. Plate, Sèvres Manufactory “Service des Liliacées”, ca. 1821. Photo Courtesy

Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens.

64

“Deutsche Blumen,” Encyclopædia Britannica.

www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/159777/deutsche-Blumen (April 7,

2014)

45

Presumably, the entirety of the remainder of the ensemble was destroyed in the spring of

1830 during the looting of the Tuileries Palace.65

As you can see from the clarity of the

lily at center, the flora is depicted with precision, accuracy and detail in the scientific

style, but is combined with a highly stylized French neoclassical Empire-style border. It

is a replica of Redouté’s illustration in Les Liliaées, which studied and documented

flowers as they are in nature, realistically and clinically and with such finesse with color.

(Figure 21)

65



ects (April 7, 2014)



46

Figure 21. Engraving, Redouté “Veltheimia Glauca”, ca. 1802-1816. Photo Courtesy Old

World Auctions.

This service is typical of the confluence of French Enlightenment elements.

Combining the richly gilded French Empire style and depicting exotic botanicals

discovered on exploratory expeditions and copied from the folios of Empress Josephine’s

favorite botanical artist, Pierre Redouté. Redouté’s drawings continue to be used by

47

porcelain factories all over Britain and Europe, such as Kent Pottery and Royal Kirkham,

as sources for decoration on a variety of household wares.66

66

Marianne Roland-Michael, The Floral Art of Pierre-Joseph Redouté (London:

Francis Lincoln Limited, 2002) ix.

48

CHELSEA “SIR HANS SLOANE”

The Chelsea Porcelain Factory was established circa 1745 by Flemish émigré Nicholas

Sprimont with assistance from Charles Gouyn, a French Hugenot, who later established

the “Girl-in-a-swing” porcelain manufactory.67

Sprimont was a registered silversmith in

London and his initial porcelain designs replicate silver forms.68

Early decorations on

Chelsea wares imitate Chinese export porcelain and Meissen designs.69

However, the

factory reached celebrity around 1761 with designs that replicated the French Sèvres taste

combining beautiful blue, green, and red ground colors with lavish gilding.70

William

Duesbury, owner of Derby works, then acquired the factory. Under Duesbury’s

ownership the factory shuttered in 1768 and the holdings of the Chelsea factory were

integrate under the Derby works umbrella.71

The Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory’s “Hans Sloane” set is named in honor of the

botanist, explorer and naturalist Sir Hans Sloane. A wealthy landowner, Sir Hans Sloane

67

“The Girl-in-a-Swing,” Victoria and Albert Museum.

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O77961/the-girl-in-a-swing-figure-

gouyn-charles/ (April 7, 2014) 68

Elizabeth Adams, Chelsea Porcelain (London: British Museum, 2001) 78. 69

Elizabeth Adams, Chelsea Porcelain (London: British Museum, 2001) 89, 126. 70

Reginald Blunt, An Illustrated Historical Handbook to the Parish of Chelsea

(London: Lamley & Co., 1900) 164. 71

Reginald Blunt, An Illustrated Historical Handbook to the Parish of Chelsea

(London: Lamley & Co., 1900) 164.

49

was appointed as the personal physician for Christopher Monck, Duke of Albermarle and

Governor of Jamaica, in 1687.72

While traveling Sir Hans Sloane became an avid

collector of curios, shells, rocks, plants, and, animals. Sloane authored A Voyage to the

Islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica, with the Natural

History of the Herbs and Trees, Four-footed Beasts, Fishes, Birds, Inspects, Reptiles, etc.

of the Last of those Islands.73

Sir Hans Sloane was appointed and served as head of the

Royal Society in succession to the brilliant Sir Isaac Newton.74

This position encouraged

his fascination with the study of botany for scientific ends. As a landowner, Sir Hans

Sloane promoted the study of the natural world at his garden known as the Chelsea

Physic garden, which served as a nursery for a variety of plant species. The garden was

directed by Philip Miller, who was a member of the Royal Horticultural Society, and

considered by Linnaeus to be “the greatest gardener of his time”.75

Miller also happened

to be the brother-in-law of the esteemed botanical illuminator Georg Dionysis Ehret.76

Ehret was famous for his botanical engravings in the Phytanthoza Iconographia by

Weinmann, which served as the source for design illustrations on the Meissen

72

“Hans Sloane, Natural History of Jamaica, a Book,” The British Museum.

www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_obkects/loan_in/h/h

ans_sloane,_natural_history_o.aspx (April 7, 2014) 73

“Hans Sloane, Natural History of Jamaica, a Book,” The British Museum.

www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_obkects/loan_in/h/h

ans_sloane,_natural_history_o.aspx (April 7, 2014) 74

“Sir Hans Sloane,” The British Museum.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/about_us/the_museums_story/sir_hans_slo

ane.aspx (April 7, 2014) 75

“Natural History and Travel,” Antiquariaat Junk B.V.

www.ilab.org/catalog_view/404/404_catolgue289.pdf (April 7, 2014) 76




50

“Brühl’sche Allerlei” service. As discussed above, Ehret found Weinmann’s demands

excessive and exploitive. After withdrawing from his work with Weimann he pursued

other commissions, such as the Garderners Dictionary by his brother-in-law Philip Miller

(Figures of the most Beautiful, Useful and Uncommon Plants by Miller).77 A true genius

of botanical illustration, he catalogued the extensive assortment of species found in the

Chelsea Physic gardens, which served as the basis for designs by the Chelsea Porcelain

Factory on the “Hans Sloane” set named in honor of the naturalist champion and patron

of the Chelsea Physic Gardens. The “Hans Sloane” dish inspired by Millers Gardeners

Dictionary (Figures of the most Beautiful, Useful and Uncommon Plants) and illustrated

by Ehret is rocaille in shape which mimics dish forms in silver, and was influenced by

Sprimont’s training as a silversmith. (Figure 22)

77




51

Figure 22. Dish, Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory “Hans Sloane” “Honeysuckle”, ca.

1758-1769. Photo Courtesy Colonial Williamsburg.

The honeysuckle image at center is directly sourced from Ehret’s “Honeysuckle”

illustration, dated 1765. (Figure 23)

52

Figure 23. Engraving, Georg Ehret” “Honeysuckle”, dated 1765. Photo Courtesy

Fitzwilliam Museum.

Likewise, the Chelsea plate “Acacia Americana” is a replica of the engraving by Ehret of

“Acacia Americana” found in Miller’s Gardeners Dictionary. (Figures 24 and 25)

53

Figure 24. Plate, Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory “Hans Sloane” “Acacia Americana”, ca.

1755. Photo Courtesy The International Ceramics Fair & Seminar.

54

Figure 25. Engraving, Georg Ehret “Acacia Americana”, dated 1755. Photo Courtesy The

International Ceramics Fair & Seminar.

Furthering the dissemination of natural science knowledge, these plates allowed people to

learn of exotic plants, such as the “Acacia Americana”, which had been brought to

England from Mexico by the explorer Vera Cruz.78

Likewise, the intention of depicting

78

“Robyn Robb – A5,” The International Ceramics Fair and Seminar.


(April 7, 2014)

55

the “Common Sweet Maudlin” on the Chelsea plate based on Ehret’s illustrations for

Millers Gardeners Dictionary was to celebrate and promoted the medicinal quality of the

Maudlin plant. (Figures 26 and 27)

Figure 26. Plate, Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory “Hans Sloane” “Common Sweet

Maudlin”, ca. 1755-1756. Photo Courtesy The International Ceramics Fair & Seminar.

56

Figure 27. Engraving, Georg Ehret “Common Sweet Maudlin”, dated 1755. Photo

Courtesy The International Ceramics Fair & Seminar.

These botanical plates in the scientific style, like the natural history journals,

enyclopædias, compendiums and folios from which they sought inspiration, were

purpose-made as teaching tools. The Enlightenment philosophy encouraged reason,

discovery, and empiricism and the fine art medium of porcelain bolstered the circulation

57

of knowledge and affirmed the sophisticated mindedness of the owner. The botanical

decorations on this service are not merely aesthetic, as with the Indianische Blumen and

the Deutsche Blumen styles. They are intentionally used to serve philosophical and

academic ends.

The art of dinner table conversation (especially among mixed or “promiscuous”

company, as the English called it) was one of the new, fashionable attainments inspired

by the Enlightenment. Designers of ceramics and silver were encouraged to include

topics for conversation on their sophisticated wares to help ease the socially awkward

into dialogue. In addition to botany favorite subjects of the period included ancient art,

mythology, symbolism, music and literature.

58

WEDGWOOD “QUEEN’S WARE”

Josiah Wedgwood was born in 1730 to Thomas and Mary Wedgwood in Staffordshire,

England.79

Staffordshire was the principal location of ceramic production in England and

Josiah came from a long line of potters. Like his forefather, Josiah apprenticed in the

family business until he contracted small pox. While convalescing, Wedgwood used the

time to read voraciously and to use his knowledge to develop analytical thought. The

Right Honorable W.E. Gladstone, in his address at the founding of the Wedgwood

Memorial Institute said:

79

Samuel Smiles, Josiah Wedgwood, F.R.S.: His Personal History (London:

Harper & Brothers) 1.

59

“Then comes the well-known smallpox, the settling of the dregs of

the disease in the lower part of the leg, and the eventual amputation of the

limb, rendering him lame for life. It is not often that we have such

palpable occasion to record our obligations to the smallpox. But, in the

wonderful ways of Providence, that disease, which came to him as a

twofold scourge, was probably the occasion of his subsequent excellence.

It prevented him from growing up to be the active, vigorous workman,

possessed of all his limbs, and knowing right well the use of them; but it

put him upon considering whether, as he could not be that, he might not be

something else, and something greater. It sent his mind inward; it drove

him to mediation upon the laws and secrets of his art. The result was that

he arrived at a perception and grasp of them which might, perhaps, have

been envied, certainly have been owned, by an Athenian potter. Relentless

criticism has long since torn to pieces the old legend of King Numa

receiving in a cavern, from the nymph Egeria, the laws which were to

govern Rome. But no criticism can shake the record of that illness and that

mutilation of the boy Josiah Wedgwood, which made him a cavern of his

bedroom, and an oracle of his own enquiring, searching, meditative,

fruitful mind.”80

Upon his recovery, Wedgwood apprenticed under his brother Thomas’s supervision.81

He

then moved from Burslem to Stoke-upon-Trent where he entered into a partnership with

John Harrison of Cliffe Bank Pottery.82

The arrangement did not last and Wedgwood

subsequently partnered with Thomas Whieldon of Whieldon works near Stoke.83

80


Harper & Brothers) 27-28. 81


Harper & Brothers) 33. 82





60

Whieldon was an established and well-regarded businessman and his reputation benefited

Wedgwood greatly.84

During this period Wedgwood developed the formula for the green

underglaze for which he remains famous, and for ceramics made to emulate precious

stones, which were then mounted by mechanics with precious metals.85

In 1760,

Wedgwood established his own manufactory in Burslem at the Ivy works pottery.86

In

1763 he developed his own cream-colored earthenware formula, which had

“a fine and durable body, covered with a rich and brilliant glaze, and able

to bear sudden vicissitudes of heat and cold without injury. As it was

manufactured with ease and expedition, it was sold cheap; and as it

possessed, with the novelty of its appearance, every requisite quality for

the purposes intended, it came quickly into general estimation and use”87

Queen Charlotte was please with Wedgwood cream ware and allowed him to designate

his cream wares as “Queen’s ware”88

Wedgwood further developed recipes for a black

basalt-looking stoneware, which replicated antiquities discovered in Herculaneum and

Pompeii, a terra-cotta, which resembled Egyptian pebble, white porcelain biscuit, and

jasperware, among others.89

In 1766 he partnered with Thomas Bentley of Liverpool to

84




Harper & Brothers) 35 and 51. 86








Harper & Brothers) 112 and 113.

61

assist in retailing Wedgwood trinkets and wares in London.90

Ultimately, Wedgwood

moved and consolidated his home and factory in Etruria.91

Wedgwood’s ability to make

his pottery fashionable and in step with trends and phenomena of the time was an astute

marketing strategy and made his ceramics extremely popular. The innovation of

technique, the quality of product and the cosmopolitan styling of the Wedgwood ware

combined to made the Wedgwood factory a great success.

In the late eighteenth century Josiah Wedgwood undertook the creation of a

“Queen’s ware” dinner and dessert service at the request of Catherine the Great. Named

the “Husk” service because of the swags of wheat looping the border of dishes, the plates

were painted with pink botanicals, in spray and twig designs by the artists Ralph Unwin,

Joseph Cooper and James Bakewell. This flatness and naivety of the design adopts the

“Holzschnitt Blumen”, or woodblock print, aesthetic, which falls under the category of

Deutsche Blumen because of its depiction of European flora idealistically. (Figure 28)

90


Harper & Brothers) 93 and 94. 91



62

Figure 28. Plate, Wedgwood “Queen’s ware” “Husk Service”, 1740. Photo Courtesy

Wedgwood Museum.

The country flowers are simple in their arrangement and allude to the designs of

woodblock prints. This set was well received by Catherine the Great and remained in

commercial production by Wedgwood to satisfy the demands of consumers who coveted

the tasted of the elite. As a result this “Queen’s ware” pattern continued to be produced

for the general market in the late eighteenth century, however, a small but noticeable

63

evolution occurred in the central botanical decoration: The floral designs began to appear

more studied, more detailed and the sprays of flowers began to dwindle to single sprigs.

(Figure 29)

Figure 29. Plate, Wedgwood “Queens ware” “Husk Service” “Phlox”, ca. 1780. Photo

Courtesy Christie’s.

64

Although the service remained in the style of the “Husk Service”, this late eighteenth

century Wedgwood design appeared to be much more influenced by the designs found in

natural history journals, clearly illustrating specimen flowers. Conspicuously invoking

botanical illustrations in natural science journals, these ceramic designs reinforce the

argument that there was in fact a third botanical design in the eighteenth century, which

emulated, and drew inspiration from images in natural science studies and

botanical compendiums. These “Husk Service” plates by Wedgwood made circa 1770

portraying a rose, a chrysanthemum, a convolvulus and a phlox exhibit a much more

scientific specimen-like presentation. The depiction of these botanicals are distinct from

Indianische Blumen, which evokes Asian designs and stylization, and independent from

“Holzschnitt Blumen”, which is a vernacular approach to botanical illustration in the

Deutsche Blumen style. Although, “Holzschnitt Blumen”, and scientifically

interpreted botanicals are usually grouped together under the Deutsche Blumen category

of botanical decoration because botanicals are presented sparsely on the designs, natural

science botanicals are a distinct style that resulted from the age of Enlightenment and the

new interest in natural history. The difference of the styles is evident in the illustrations

of the Blue Anemone flower on the Meissen tea caddy circa 1735-1740 in the

“Holzschnitt Blumen” style of Deutsche Blumen and the Chelsea “Hans Sloane” plate in

the scientific style circa 1755. (Figures 30 and 31)

65

Figure 30. Tea Caddy, Meissen Porcelain Manufactory, ca. 1735-1740. Photo Courtesy

The International Ceramics Fair & Seminar.

66

Figure 31. Plate, Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory “Hans Sloane”, ca. 1755. Photo

Courtesy The International Ceramics Fair and Seminar.

67

CONCLUSION

Science was the impetus behind the natural history flora style. Men and kings who had

for centuries prayed to an invisible God were enraptured with the prospect that discovery

and study of nature would elevate humankind in medicine, agriculture, geology and

industry. Hope was tangible in the eighteenth century. In The Botanist John Adams, head

of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, Enlightenment thinker, and founding father of

the United States, explained the overwhelming fascination with the study of nature and

the resulting fervor for curiosity as “When he is told that by the word Nature, we mean

the energy of God, seen in the various productions that replenish and adorn the world, he

is silenced, but not satisfied.”92

Men of thought were awakened and devoted to the

certitude and the finality of scientific exploration. No longer would prayer and hope

alone be sufficient when clarity, and truth could be realized with science. The fever of the

Enlightenment was urged on by these men of science who through medicine, botany,

geology, astronomy, zoology, and other sciences, could explain their beliefs and explain

the world with reason and with proofs that were uncontestable. Their philosophy was one

of natural reality. As the movement spread through Europe and to America, thinkers and

rulers alike who seized this new awareness worked to personalize their connection with

this resourceful earth, disseminate the knowledge and to keep the obvious truths of

92

Benjamin Waterhouse, The Botanist (Boston: J.T. Buckingham, 1811) x.

68

Enlightenment philosophy as clear and factual as possible even in the arts.

Embellishment was cast to the side – all depictions purposefully executed were to be

strictly literal and accurate. It is through avenues such as the arts where the information

could be displayed and shared, and, therefore, reach a larger audience of intrigued

consumers.

Seized by this momentum, empowered by its credibility, artists, philosophers,

scientists, politicians provided a wellspring of material from which designers could draw

to provide for their interested new audience. When the Danish King commissioned the

Flora Danica set for Queen Catherine it was both a treasured gift cataloging the gorgeous

botany of Denmark, and it was an overt gesture to an enlightened ally, an appreciation for

and embrace of the fashion for science and the simultaneous appreciation for aesthetics

and medicinal study. Likewise, in Europe the plates of Sir Hans Sloane for Chelsea

Porcelain no doubt celebrated his personal gardens at Chelsea Physic and the variety of

flora in them, but the porcelain product communicated the esteem not for the exotic, or

for the pretty, but for a noble embrace of scientific discovery and a real sense of elitism to

those who immerse themselves in the academic study of the natural world. Likewise,

“Service des Liliacées” by Sèvres is beautifully executed, but was made in keeping with

the vogue for botanical study of the time. The botanical illustrations depicted on each

service are intended to teach, to captivate the mind, and to spur logical thinking and

understanding. The plates are beautifully modeled and the images are exquisitely

detailed, but their fascination comes from their true form, not embellishments or exotic

imaginative imagery, but design validated by pure realism.

69

The Enlightenment “philosophes”, such as Rousseau, Voltaire, and Kant were

obsessed with natural theory. Some used it as a basis for their ideologies; others feared its

manipulation, which, according to Rousseau, lead to the debasement of society.93

The

time of the Enlightenment was volatile. Systems based on faith, which had existed for

thousands of years, came into doubt with the rationality of scientific and medicinal

discovery. The opening of the world was hugely significant to the covetous minds of the

newly moneyed consumers. The desire for the exotic, the craving to possess the

unknown, allowed for the widespread fascination with Indianische Blumen china. The

historic revelation of Asian culture was significant and the Western consumer market

proved ready to be inspired.

Unlike Indianische Blumen, which satisfied a curiosity for the exotic, scientific

porcelain affirmed a philosophy and the idea of progressive thought, exploration and

scientific discovery. The Enlightenment was a time of science, exploration, analyzation,

and study of the natural world, and botany in particular, provided knowledge which was

infused into medicine, philosophy and politics. Interconnected by the academic

fascination with botany in the eighteenth century, Wedgwood, Darwin, Blake, Linnaeus,

Sloane, Klingle, Weinmenn, Miller, Ehret and Redouté took it upon themselves to bridge

the study of science in the natural world with the decorative arts. These individuals,

members of variety of societies, such as the Society Dilettanti, the Lunar Society, the

Royal Horticultural Society, the Royal Society, the Linnean Society, and others, shared

93

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Roger D. Masters, Christopher Kelly, Judith R. Bush,

Discourse on the Sciences and Arts: (First Discourse) and Polemics

(Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England [for] Dartmouth

College, 1992) 157.

70

their discoveries, their documentation, and their enlightened philosophy, which were

based on the principles of the natural world. Anchored by the prestige of such men,

promoted by the means of the same men, there was little doubt that botanical porcelain

based on scientific journals would succeed. The people were eager for a system of

government based on reality, nature, and reason, and the rulers were fascinated with

knowledgeable pursuit and acquisition throughout the world.

Remarkably executed, the Botanical sets, such as “Flora Danica” by Royal

Copenhagen, Chelsea “Hans Sloane”, and Meissen’s “Brühl’sche Allerlei” are not novel

for their imagination, creativity and embellishment. However, they are unique for their

exactness and truthfulness to the illustration of floral imagery. Scientific Botanical

Porcelain in the eighteenth century remains one of the first forays of science into

Decorative Arts decoration. Mostly concerned with formula and materials, science had

been relegated to it productive capacity in the medium. However, as science on the table,

Enlightenment porcelain made in the eighteenth century, based on scientific journals,

elevated science to decoration as a means of communication, to expound values, to

encourage conversation and to nurture progressive thinking. In the eighteenth century, the

categorization of botanicals on porcelain does not strictly fall into the two existing groups

divided between Indianische Blumen and Deutsche Blumen. There is in fact a third

grouping, “Naturwissenschaft Blumen”, natural science flowers, which applies to

botanicals depicted on porcelain, which promoted the scientific study of the natural world

through botanical decoration, in exaltation of the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason.

71

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BIOGRAPHY

Sara O’Keefe is currently a Master’s candidate in the History of Decorative Arts from the

Smithsonian Institution in partnership with George Mason University. Sara serves on the

Advisory Council of Hillwood Estate Museum and Gardens and served as 2014 Benefit

Chair for the Cartier Exhibition at Hillwood.

Previously, Sara worked for the Democratic National Committee, raising money for

Presidential candidates, such as John Kerry, down ballot candidates in mid-term

elections, National Conventions and has forged close relationships with the top

Democratic donors in the country. Sara has represented Former President William

Jefferson Clinton and his Foundation, the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation, raising

millions of dollars and awareness for climate change, HIV/AIDS and Childhood Obesity.

In addition, her work with the Clinton Global Initiative has allowed leaders of many

countries to work together with elite members of the business, sporting and entertainment

communities.

Prior to her work with President Clinton, Sara was the National Finance Director for

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s re-election where she was part of a team that raised

$40 million dollars, a record amount for a Senate campaign. Sara also worked at the

Democratic National Committee as the Director of the Democratic Business Council,

where she brought together leaders in the business community together with members of

Congress and prominent Democratic Leadership. In 2004, she also served as the Finance

Director for the battleground states, helping the Democratic National Committee,

together with John Kerry to out-raise the Republican National Committee for the first

time in history.

Sara graduated from Elon College. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband Peter

O’Keefe and their children Ryan and Emma.

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