PAINTED PORCELAIN - A POPULAR PASTIME FOR VICTORIAN & EDWARDIAN WOMEN
From 1880 to 1920, a popular hobby for middle class and wealthy American women was the painting of porcelain “blanks.” Women still made beautiful works of art with their needles. Adornment of the home and body through embroidery, crochet, tatting, lacemaking, knitting, and quilting all continued to be popular. Sketching and painting were common. But the rise of mass produced high quality porcelain and its availability for painting at home led to a new craze. Women of the newly ascendant middle class had more time and money than ever before and many used this leisure time to make beautiful things.
Hobbyist china painting began in England in the 1870s, but quickly moved to the United States. Specialty shops sold fired blank white porcelain, brushes, and enamels. They also offered classes in painting and design, and fired finished pieces in professional kilns. The porcelain blanks were typically imported into the United States, originating in France, Germany, or England although American manufacturers soon jumped on the bandwagon. Some women invested in small “muffle furnaces” that allowed them to do the second firing themselves after painting the decoration. This operation was fraught, however, and the risk of ruining the pieces they had labored at so long was high, so many hobbyists who lived in communities where the better kilns were available allowed professionals to complete this final step.
Publications such as the 1877 book by Mary Louise McLaughlin, A Practical Manual for the use of Amateurs in the Decoration of Hard Porcelain and a magazine launched in 1887, The China Decorator, A Monthly Journal Devoted Exclusively to this Art proved wildly popular. Women formed china painting clubs.
Floral motifs were common, as in this Victorian piece dated 1901. The blank is from Havilland.
A floral motif was also used in this Art Deco example from 1921.
China painters decorated a wide variety of products. Some painted single plates for display on a wall. Others completed entire sets of dinner- or luncheon-ware. Some painted vases. Others specialized in jewelry, typically brooches. Sometimes these items were kept for personal use, but painted porcelain became a popular gift item. Some of the artists sold their creations or donated them to raise money for charity.
Marie Sweum of Everett, WA (1889-1968) painted this amazing Art Deco luncheon set circa 1920. There are 37 pieces in the service for 5 - luncheon plates, bread & butter plates, dessert plates, cups, saucers, handled serving plate, sugar bowl, creamer, lemon server, and 3 shakers. All pieces are exquisitely painted.
Although it can’t be seen in these photographs, the dragonfly wings are iridescent, as are the insides of all the coffee cups.
It’s too bad Marie didn’t include a date with this gift set. But it was clearly given as a Christmas gift to their dear friends Dr. and Mrs. Johnson.
And sweetest of all, the set included a standing invitation for every Sunday afternoon.
The skill level of these hobbyist painters varied dramatically. Some were remarkable artists. Others created work that was clumsy at best. Most fell somewhere in between. Floral motifs were most common, though some individuals became accomplished portrait painters and others chose scenes from nature.
Definitely an amateur effort, but very charming, with a strong Arts & Crafts Movement flavor. Given as a Christmas gift in 1908.
I wish we knew who E.M.B. was. What we do know is that whoever received this plate as a Christmas gift treasured it and kept it safe.
I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for this artwork and thought I’d share some examples with all of you, including jewelry.
This brooch was a gift to my grandmother from a close family friend. The name of the friend has been lost to history, but it has been cherished by 3 generations since the early 1900s.
Dating to the late 1800s, this brooch was painted on a very unusual crescent shaped blank.
And this lovely Gibson Girl portrait brooch is a real treasure. It is much larger than the usual brooches that are seen, and the artist was truly talented. She signed it L. L., but we will never know her name.
Eventually, although the painting of china fell out of fashion, the hobby morphed into the production and painting of pottery. And thus, American studio pottery was born!
And later yet, during the1950s, Victoria Flemming was inspired by the china painters of her youth but chose edgier Modern designs and created her highly collectible line of hand painted porcelain cufflinks, earrings, and brooches. She sold from her booth at the Court of Two Sisters in New Orleans and also sold the cufflinks nationwide through Custom Shirt Shops.
