Plaque
Della Robbia Pottery
Category
Ceramics
Date
1895 - 1896
Materials
earthenware with slip, sgraffito and coloured glazes
Measurements
80 mm (H)335 mm (Diameter)
Place of origin
Birkenhead
Order this imageCollection
Standen House and Garden, West Sussex
NT 1213670
Summary
Large plaque, red earthenware with white slip, circular form with central circular well, flattened foot rim wiped clean of slip, decorated by Frances (Lena) Peirce and J. L. Levy, Della Robbia Pottery, Birkenhead, ca 1895-6; decorated at the centre of the well with a sailing ship between the letters ‘D’ and ‘R’, the well decorated with a series of eleven evenly spaced, diagonally oriented scallops with trefoils between at the rim edge, the design coloured with yellow, orange, blue and grey glazes.
Full description
The Della Robbia Pottery was established in Birkenhead in 1894, taking its name and inspiration from the maiolica (tin glazed earthenware) masterpieces of Italian Renaissance sculptor Luca Della Robbia. It ran according to Arts and Crafts principles, aspiring to use local labour and materials, and to create works entirely by hand. Della Robbia employed many women as designers and decorators. The ceramics were bold, bright and colourful – the Magazine of Art reported that, with Della Robbia ceramics in a room, ‘the ordinary meal would have the comparative air of a banquet.’ Unfortunately, the venture was never profitable and it closed in 1906 after just 12 years in business.Frances (Lena) Peirce was born in Ireland. She moved to Birkenhead with her sister, Aphra, to work at the Della Robbia Pottery. Her work for the pottery was admired in The Magazine of Art, where she was described as producing ‘some beautiful and romantic designs.’ Her life was cut tragically short when she died in 1895 from tuberculosis. In the last few months of her life she was too weak to travel to the pottery, so pieces were taken to the home she shared with her sister to paint. Peirce decorated this plaque, which was probably for advertising the business. A very similar object, inscribed with the date 1895, is illustrated in an advert for Liberty & Co (also in The Magazine of Art), which sold Della Robbia ceramics. The largest plaques - described as 'handsome and highly decorated' - sold for as much as 63 shillings (the equivalent of about £250 today), the smallest for about half as much. Harold Rathbone was the founder of and driving force behind the Della Robbia Pottery. He trained at the Slade School of Art and then at the Académie Julian in Paris. In 1878, he visited Italy with his family, where encountered the work of fifteenth century ceramicist and sculptor, Luca Della Robbia. Rathbone based himself in London and exhibited work widely. Rathbone’s father was a prolific patron of the arts and the family was well known in Pre-Raphaelite circles. By the time he established the Della Robbia Pottery, Rathbone was connected to many distinguished artists and thinkers, including John Ruskin, Mary Seton Watts and George Frederic Watts, Ford Maddox Brown and Frank Brangwyn.
Marks and inscriptions
Underside of base: D [ship] R (manufacturer's mark) L (decorator's mark, J. L. Levy) Underside of base: F.P. (hand painted in green, overglaze, decorator's mark, Frances (Lena) Peirce)
Makers and roles
Della Robbia Pottery , manufacturer Frances Peirce (d. 1895), decorator J. L. Levy, decorator
References
Hyland 2013: Peter Hyland, The Della Robbia Pottery, Birkenhead, 1894-1906, Suffolk: Antique Collectors’ Club 2013, p. 232, fig. 260