Antique Derby Porcelain Botanical Plate, Marsh Hibiscus, Salmon Ground With Gilt Swans, John Brewer, Circa 1815

Details

Description

Antique Derby Porcelain Botanical Plate, Marsh Hibiscus, Salmon Ground with Gilt Swans, John Brewer,
Circa 1815

A single pink Marsh … Read more Antique Derby Porcelain Botanical Plate, Marsh Hibiscus, Salmon Ground with Gilt Swans, John Brewer,
Circa 1815

A single pink Marsh Hibiscus opens across the center of this Regency Derby porcelain plate, its softly veined petals gathered around a crimson eye and yellow stamen, with a closed bud on a slender stem and serrated leaves below. The flower was painted around 1815, attributed to John Brewer, who worked directly from the hand-colored engraving after Sydenham Edwards in William Curtis’s The Botanical Magazine (plate 882, 1805). It is one of a series of named botanical specimens Derby produced for the fashionable Regency dining room, and the flower’s name is written in script on the reverse.

What sets this plate apart is the border: a warm salmon ground carrying a gilt frieze of swans with outstretched wings and long turned necks, poised on scrolling acanthus between stylized flower heads, fern sprays, and pendant husks, all within a burnished gilt edge.

Hang it alone as a small jewel against a colored wall, group it with other Derby botanical plates in a stairwell or powder room, or let it anchor a mantel vignette beside a small bronze or a bud vase of real hibiscus. The salmon ground sits beautifully with cream, sage, and soft terracotta interiors, and the botanical subject works equally well in a garden room, a breakfast room, or a bedroom.

Dimensions
Diameter: 8 7/8 inches (22.5 cm)
Height: 1 1/2 inches (3.8 cm)

Marks
Crown, crossed batons, dots, and D mark in iron-red on the reverse, the specimen named in iron-red script “Marsh Hibiscus.”; workman’s numeral 13 in iron-red script inside the footrim.

Provenance
Earle D. Vandekar of Knightsbridge

Condition
Excellent antique condition; the gilding is fresh and the salmon ground evenly applied.

Historical Context
John Brewer (1764–1816) was the elder of two brothers, both the sons of artists, who painted at Derby; he joined the factory in 1795 and worked there until his death, bringing the fluent touch of a trained watercolorist to landscapes, animals, and, above all, botanical subjects. Derby’s named-specimen botanical wares of this period drew directly on the plates of The Botanical Magazine, founded by William Curtis in 1787 and continued after his death in 1799 under John Sims. Sydenham Edwards (1768–1819), who drew nearly all of its plates for its first twenty-eight years, provided the image copied here; the Marsh Hibiscus, a native of the wetlands of eastern North America, was figured in 1805 from a plant that would, as the text noted, rarely flower in English gardens without artificial heat.

(Ref: NY4723J-nirr) See less