Antiques – It’s So Summertime… Stop and Smell the Antique Roses

Summer is for enjoying our gardens and the lush seasonal flora. It’s also when many of us have the time to stop and smell the roses. Roses are native to the Middle East, and early Europeans considered them exotic and mysterious. Consequently, they are scarce in any early European decoration.
All that changed in 1824 with the publication of Les Roses, a book of botanical rose prints by Pierre-Joseph Redoute, court artist to Napoleon’s wife, the Empress Josephine. In fact, if any piece of European porcelain is heavily decorated with roses, you can be very sure it was made after the date of this book.
Josephine had decided she would grow as many different varieties of roses as she could. She managed over 250 of them, and it was Redoute’s job to draw them all.
After the Empress died, Redoute published his drawings. The book was an enormous hit, and after its publication, roses became the dominant decoration on European ceramics.
The publication date of Redoute’s book can help in dating Old Paris porcelains. The dates for Old Paris are usually given as 1790 to 1890, with the height of production between 1820 and 1850.
Artists decorated with floral clusters, garlands and bouquets, often with flourishes of wispy stems and vines. Roses are very rare before Redoute’s book, but dominate decoration from the late 1820s on.
Roses dominated German decoration at the turn-of-the-century. Yellow, red, pink and white, these are full, lush roses at the peak of bloom. It may seem, in fact, that the were captured at that moment just before
The design was originated at the highly successful studios of the Schlegelmilch brother, Reinhold and Erhard, who owned porcelain factories throughout central Europe. Pieces marked “R S Prussia” are highly sought after by collectors.
In contrast to the RS decorations, The distinctive flowers on early Haviland porcelains are tiny, and the colors are pale by comparison. As small as they are, however, Haviland flowers are remarkable in their detail.
To distinguish Chinese from Japanese wares, it helps to know that the Chinese liked to decorate with the peony, while the Japanese used the chrysanthemum. Both flowers dominate the decoration whenever they appear.
Other distinctive flowers to look out for include: Noritake’s “Azalea”; the “Desert Rose” of Franciscanware; the stylized bushes, trees and border flowers that are unique to the Quimper wares of France; the unusual earth-tone flowers of “Old Ivory” porcelain; and the artfully executed wisteria as painted by Nippon decorators.
For whatever reason, some flowers are rare in the decorative arts. Hydrangeas are not very common, and you hardly ever see hyacinth, sweetpea, foxglove or spider mums. Pansies are so rare, that it’s worth it to pick up any piece you see one on.
You may find these rare flowers, however, on amateur decorated wares from the china-painting craze of 1895-1925, when American ladies hand painted thousands of pieces of imported porcelains in their own distinctive styles.
There are fields and gardens of floral delights to enjoy in the local antique shops, if we’ll just take the time to stop and smell the . . .well, the dishes.
Arthur Schwerdt, a certified appraiser, is the author of “The Antique Story Book: Finding the Real Value of Old Things,” and co-owner of The August Farmhouse Antiques on Route 9 in Swainton. Send your comments, questions or appraisal requests to aschwerdt@cmcherald.com
CAPTIONS:
1. (BOEHM ROSE): New Jersey’s own Edward Marshall Boehm was world renowned for his beautifully realistic designs taken from nature. This “Angel Face Rose” is from his bone china “Rose Plate Collection,” made in England.
2. (JONES PLATE): Admirers of English ceramics look for anything from George Jones. This dessert plate is one of a set of twelve made in 1887 called “Familiar Flowers.” The set includes different varieties of garden favorites like daffodils, daisies, asters and, like this one, geraniums.
3. (IMARI FLOWER): The Emperor of Japan occupies the “Chrysanthemum Throne,” and the flower is frequently found on Japanese decorative arts. Mostly, mums will depicted realistically, but, sometimes, as in this detail from an Imari porcelain umbrella stand, they can be artfully stylized.