A TALE OF TWO CHARGERS
BY
RAY BARKER
How often do you find a rare piece of Fielding's Crown Devon and then a similar piece turns up within a week or two? It has happened to me quite a few times and it happened again not that long ago.....and with, of all things, a bit of majolica.
The phone rang and a voice said ' I have bought your book in which you say that you have been looking for a piece of Fielding's majolica for over 20 years. Well, I've got a very rare piece for you. The voice gave his name and details of the majolica, which was a large charger with three lovely yellow roses on a maroon background with a 3D effect that I had never seen.
The voice said he would send me a picture and he would contact me again in about three weeks. I rang David Fielding who knows more than most about majolica and he exclaimed ' Well that is strange because this is the second time in a fortnight that I have been asked about a rose wall plaque.' A lady had phoned him about one which she was planning to put on eBay.
The eBay seller described the plaque, "This outstanding and extremely rare Fielding's wall plaque/charger, circa 1878 is among their very best work from this period. It measures a huge 16" in diameter and is entirely handmade. It is fully marked on the back, impressed FIELDING, pattern number 20/539 with the artist's initials OD.
In my first book, "The Crown Devon Story" published in 1991, I gave in chapter 16, page 83, extracts from the Ceramic art of Great Britain published in 1883....'Messrs S. Fielding and Company have introduced a new feature in Majolica in which they are producing a vast variety of articles of remarkable taking, pleasing and useful character.... 'The majolica colouring is judiciously used on the embossed decorations and the effect is very pleasing. One of the distinctive features of the Fieldings majolica is the masterly and effective way in which they introduce hand modelled flowers and foliage to some of their best pieces. Modelled and coloured true to nature in every minute detail and thrown in graceful negligence around the items, they become such perfect reproductions that it is difficult to divest the mind of the idea that the roses are not freshly gathered from the tree and temporarily twined around the piece for adornment'
The eBay plaque which had one yellow and two white roses, tinged with pink was bid to £280 but did not reach it's reserve. I understand that it has since been sold to a collector in the United States for a figure that delights me as owner of plaque number 2.
My plaque carries the same identification but with the pattern number 10/539.
Incidentally, whilst rummaging through a box of ashtrays at an antiques shop on the way to Ipswich, I came across a Bryant & May matchbox Holder cum ashtray which was marked FIELDING in small capital letters and the number 211. Along with the charger I believe that these two pieces were made in 1878 or 1879. Fieldings took over the Railway Pottery in 1878.
BY
RAY BARKER
How often do you find a rare piece of Fielding's Crown Devon and then a similar piece turns up within a week or two? It has happened to me quite a few times and it happened again not that long ago.....and with, of all things, a bit of majolica.
The phone rang and a voice said ' I have bought your book in which you say that you have been looking for a piece of Fielding's majolica for over 20 years. Well, I've got a very rare piece for you. The voice gave his name and details of the majolica, which was a large charger with three lovely yellow roses on a maroon background with a 3D effect that I had never seen.
The voice said he would send me a picture and he would contact me again in about three weeks. I rang David Fielding who knows more than most about majolica and he exclaimed ' Well that is strange because this is the second time in a fortnight that I have been asked about a rose wall plaque.' A lady had phoned him about one which she was planning to put on eBay.
The eBay seller described the plaque, "This outstanding and extremely rare Fielding's wall plaque/charger, circa 1878 is among their very best work from this period. It measures a huge 16" in diameter and is entirely handmade. It is fully marked on the back, impressed FIELDING, pattern number 20/539 with the artist's initials OD.
In my first book, "The Crown Devon Story" published in 1991, I gave in chapter 16, page 83, extracts from the Ceramic art of Great Britain published in 1883....'Messrs S. Fielding and Company have introduced a new feature in Majolica in which they are producing a vast variety of articles of remarkable taking, pleasing and useful character.... 'The majolica colouring is judiciously used on the embossed decorations and the effect is very pleasing. One of the distinctive features of the Fieldings majolica is the masterly and effective way in which they introduce hand modelled flowers and foliage to some of their best pieces. Modelled and coloured true to nature in every minute detail and thrown in graceful negligence around the items, they become such perfect reproductions that it is difficult to divest the mind of the idea that the roses are not freshly gathered from the tree and temporarily twined around the piece for adornment'
The eBay plaque which had one yellow and two white roses, tinged with pink was bid to £280 but did not reach it's reserve. I understand that it has since been sold to a collector in the United States for a figure that delights me as owner of plaque number 2.
My plaque carries the same identification but with the pattern number 10/539.
Incidentally, whilst rummaging through a box of ashtrays at an antiques shop on the way to Ipswich, I came across a Bryant & May matchbox Holder cum ashtray which was marked FIELDING in small capital letters and the number 211. Along with the charger I believe that these two pieces were made in 1878 or 1879. Fieldings took over the Railway Pottery in 1878.
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