[Lucille Oka]

I have been looking at these two vessels for over twenty years and trying to understand the motivation for making them. I thought maybe Rockingham Pottery was attempting to deter copying of their wares. Then I thought that maybe the vessels were commissioned by someone who wanted something curious and unusual to put on display. Finally this week I decided the motivation was just 'guts and a sense of humor'. What do you think? Maybe you can come up with a better supposition.

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[Chris Campbell]

These are fabulous ... Don't you love the "More is wonderful" school of design?
If you wanted to show the world absolutely everything you could do to a vase, here it is.
This looks like a group effort ... The thrower gave it to the hand builder who passed it to the china painter who passed it to the glaze people ......

[AmeriSwede]

Chris Campbell, on 07 August 2011 - 06:22 PM, said:

These are fabulous ... Don't you love the "More is wonderful" school of design?
If you wanted to show the world absolutely everything you could do to a vase, here it is.
This looks like a group effort ... The thrower gave it to the hand builder who passed it to the china painter who passed it to the glaze people ......

... who passed it to the kiln loader/unloader who passed it to the supervisor who passed it to the owner who passed it to the Queen who passed it to the V & A Museum...

Certainly a wonderful example of rococo porcelain, I think.

[Idaho Potter]

Are those rhinos on the very top? Perhaps the owner of the two small sculptures wanted an impressive base for the animals and somewhere in the conversation the word embellishment came up and this was the result. Fanciful? Yes, to match the magnificence of the work. I think Chris's theory is close to the truth. Almost like "anything you can do, I can do better".

[lcar]

Can you imagine the original, while it was still moist clay? i think it would have been fantastic. I too ,would love to hear the story behind it.

[AmeriSwede]

lcar, on 09 August 2011 - 08:00 AM, said:

Can you imagine the original, while it was still moist clay? i think it would have been fantastic. I too ,would love to hear the story behind it.

A little info.....

'The Rhinoceros Vase, designed by Thomas Brameld and painted by Edwin Steele (1803-71). Painted and gilded porcelain. Yorkshire, England, c.1826.' ...... at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England.

This link also has a wonderful close up of the rhino on a field of flora, atop the piece.

I love the whimsical look of the clawed feet on the bottom...

Some additional info on Thomas Brameld....

'Thomas Brameld, designer of this piece, was proprietor of the Swinton Pottery on the estate of the wealthy Earl Fitzwilliam. From at least 1818, Brameld severely strained his resources by attempting to manufacture porcelain. His eventual bankruptcy in 1825 was, however, happily resolved by the intervention of the Earl, who thenceforward underwrote the factory's debts. Earl Fitzwilliam also allowed them to name the pottery works after his famous forebear, the Marquis of Rockingham, and to use his griffin crest as a mark.'

That information is among other info and additional enlargeable sharp images at this V & A link.

The V & A link also adds.... ' This fantastic vase was certainly made as an eye-catcher. It was probably used to advertise the technical and artistic skill of the Rockingham factory in a London shop or showroom.'

[AmeriSwede]

I would conjecture that the cartoonish feet are also representative of the gryphon's feet, whose crest was allowed as a mark granted to Brameld the previous year (1825) when the Earl Fitzwilliam resolved his bankruptcy and underwrote the factory's debts.

[Lucille Oka]

Too me it's like putting on top of a plate of penne pasta: tomato w/meat sauce, ricotta, and parmesan cheese, a glop of peanut butter and jelly, a smear of mayonnaise, a cup of mustard, a drizzle of chocolate sauce, and sprinkled with crushed oreo cookies, ugh!

[JLowes]

Lucille Oka, on 10 August 2011 - 04:23 PM, said:

Too me it's like putting on top of a plate of penne pasta: tomato w/meat sauce, ricotta, and parmesan cheese, a glop of peanut butter and jelly, a smear of mayonnaise, a cup of mustard, a drizzle of chocolate sauce, and sprinkled with crushed oreo cookies, ugh!

Lucille, I think you forgot to add some edible flowers to those ingredients :-D

John

[Lucille Oka]

JLowes, on 10 August 2011 - 01:33 PM, said:

Lucille Oka, on 10 August 2011 - 04:23 PM, said:

Too me it's like putting on top of a plate of penne pasta: tomato w/meat sauce, ricotta, and parmesan cheese, a glop of peanut butter and jelly, a smear of mayonnaise, a cup of mustard, a drizzle of chocolate sauce, and sprinkled with crushed oreo cookies, ugh!

Lucille, I think you forgot to add some edible flowers to those ingredients :-D

John

Ah yes a nice touch! Hmmm maybe even a few marshmallows here and there; the little ones, just a few. Add some salted peanuts in the shell for the rhino and maybe even a smidgeon of...

[Lucille Oka]

If anyone would like more information on these vessels the book- The Illustrated Guide to Rockingham Pottery and Porcelain, by Dennis G. Rice; Praeger Publishers 1971, can lend a little more insight into the Rockingham 'Rhinoceros Vases', as well as other Rockingham ware.
The vessel with the 'white arms' was the first one made by John Wager Brameld dated 1826 for the Wentworth House and ‘it suffered some damage there-the result, it is said, of an impromptu game of 'rugger' in its immediate vicinity’ and the vessel was broken' and is said to be 'badly repaired.'

The Rhinoceros Vase with the flowers on a dark ground is a copy of it, (imagine!) painted by Edwin Steele; 'its history is obscured and is the vase that is located in the V&A museum'. Both were made in the 19th century.

[Dinah]

This type of ware was designed for Rockingham's showroom and probably found its way into the Great Exposition of -- what -- 1852? in Brighton. I haven't read the background bumph but competition was quite keen between the big manufacturers. Stoke Museum of Ceramics in Stoke on Trent is a definite must visit for potters, as they exhibit a huge range of historic pieces and include some wonderful contemporary work as well. Of course, the V & A possesses a wealth of world ceramics, but Stoke concentrates on English ceramics. It's about an hour north of Birmingham by train or car, and Birmingham is 50 minutes north of Stratford-upon-Avon by commuter train just to get your bearings. Gladstone Pottery has a wonderful tour too of their big bottle kilns, which when I was teaching in SOA I took my pottery classes to visit. A grand day out!