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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.
www.linnaeus.uu.se/online/life/8_3.html (April 7, 2014) 11
“What People Have Said About Linnaeus,” Uppsala Univeritet.
www.linnaeus.uu.se/online/life/8_3.html (April 7, 2014) 12
“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.
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
Janet Gleeson, The Arcanum: The Extraordinary Story (New York: Warner
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
Janet Gleeson, The Arcanum: The Extraordinary Story (New York: Warner
Books, 1998) . 30
Janet Gleeson, The Arcanum: The Extraordinary Story (New York: Warner
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.
http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1366095
(April 7, 2014) 35
“Meissen Coffee Pot and Cover,” National Museum of American History.
http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1366095
(April 7, 2014) 36
“Meissen Coffee Pot and Cover,” National Museum of American History.
http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1366095
(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
“Company History, “ Royal Copenhagen.
www.royalcopenhagen.com/en/about-us/history/5/5 (April 21, 2014) 47
“Company History, “ Royal Copenhagen.
www.royalcopenhagen.com/en/about-us/history/5/5 (April 21, 2014) 48
“The Dinner Set,” The Royal Library.
www.kb.dk/en/tema/floradanica/stellet/html (April 7, 2014) 49
“The Dinner Set,” The Royal Library.
www.kb.dk/en/tema/floradanica/stellet/html (April 7, 2014) 50
“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
“The Dinner Set,” The Royal Library.
www.kb.dk/en/tema/floradanica/stellet/html (April 7, 2014)
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.
www.kb.dk/en/tema/floradanica/stellet/html (April 7, 2014) 55
Princess Grace of Monaco and Gwen Robyns. My Book of Flowers (Garden
City, NY: Doubleday, 1980) xx. 56
“The Dinner Set,” The Royal Library.
www.kb.dk/en/tema/floradanica/stellet/html (April 7, 2014)
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
Janet Gleeson, The Arcanum: The Extraordinary Story (New York: Warner
Books, 1998) 201. 58
Janet Gleeson, The Arcanum: The Extraordinary Story (New York: Warner
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
Janet Gleeson, The Arcanum: The Extraordinary Story (New York: Warner
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
“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)
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
“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)
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
“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)
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
“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)
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.
http://www.haughton.com/system/image_bucket/ceramics_2009.pdf
(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
Samuel Smiles, Josiah Wedgwood, F.R.S.: His Personal History (London:
Harper & Brothers) 27-28. 81
Samuel Smiles, Josiah Wedgwood, F.R.S.: His Personal History (London:
Harper & Brothers) 33. 82
Samuel Smiles, Josiah Wedgwood, F.R.S.: His Personal History (London:
Harper & Brothers) 34. 83
Samuel Smiles, Josiah Wedgwood, F.R.S.: His Personal History (London:
Harper & Brothers) 34.
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
Samuel Smiles, Josiah Wedgwood, F.R.S.: His Personal History (London:
Harper & Brothers) 34. 85
Samuel Smiles, Josiah Wedgwood, F.R.S.: His Personal History (London:
Harper & Brothers) 35 and 51. 86
Samuel Smiles, Josiah Wedgwood, F.R.S.: His Personal History (London:
Harper & Brothers) 42. 87
Samuel Smiles, Josiah Wedgwood, F.R.S.: His Personal History (London:
Harper & Brothers) 59. 88
Samuel Smiles, Josiah Wedgwood, F.R.S.: His Personal History (London:
Harper & Brothers) 59. 89
Samuel Smiles, Josiah Wedgwood, F.R.S.: His Personal History (London:
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
Samuel Smiles, Josiah Wedgwood, F.R.S.: His Personal History (London:
Harper & Brothers) 93 and 94. 91
Samuel Smiles, Josiah Wedgwood, F.R.S.: His Personal History (London:
Harper & Brothers) 153.
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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