Plantation, FL
Details
- Dimensions
- 13.5ʺW × 11.25ʺD × 4.25ʺH
- Styles
- Grand Tour
- Brand
- Spode
- Period
- Late 19th Century
- Country of Origin
- United Kingdom
- Item Type
- Vintage, Antique or Pre-owned
Shop Sustainably with Chairish
- Materials
- Earthenware
- Condition
- Good Condition, Original Condition Unaltered, Some Imperfections
- Color
- Brown
- Condition Notes
- Excellent. Excellent. less
- Description
-
A brightly colored Neoclassical tazza or cake plate in the 'Greek' pattern made by Copeland Spode in the late 19th …
more
A brightly colored Neoclassical tazza or cake plate in the 'Greek' pattern made by Copeland Spode in the late 19th century.
This tazza, in Copeland Spode’s ‘Greek’ pattern, illustrates a scene (‘Iphigenia Being Told of the Death of Agamemnon’) from the Trojan War which was taken from Wilhelm Tischbein’s 1791 catalog of the Hamilton collection. Blue and white is the most common colorway in the Greek pattern, although more unique color combinations such as the present brown, green, and yellow do exist and are rare.
Potters not only took inspiration from the designs in the Catalogue, but from the Ancient vessel shapes as well. Here, the tazza is modeled after a kylix, a form which in Ancient Greece was used as a drinking cup. Kylikes were decorated on both the exterior and the interior so that drinking could become a performative act: the exterior design would be revealed as the drinker lifted the cup to take a sip. Spode eschewed exterior decoration on this tazza, clearly meaning for this to be a decorative piece instead of a useful one.
A dish such as this one would have appealed to both upper and middling classes of consumers: the former, as a reminder of their Grand Tour travels and a celebration of their own cosmopolitanism; the latter, as an indicator of those high-class morales of social refinement and good taste. While middle classes perhaps could not undertake a Grand Tour of their own, objects like this bowl would have served to highlight the owner’s knowledge of the Classics and his or her heritage to a great Western civilization, some of the very ideals that Grand Tour travel promoted.
References:
Thomas Kirk, Outlines from the figures and compositions upon the Greek Roman and Etruscan vases of the late Sir William Hamilton, ed. William Miller (London: William Miller, 1804), p. 59.
Wilhelm Tischbein, Collection of Engravings from Ancient Vases of Greek Workmanship Discovered in Sepulchres in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies now in the Possession of Sir William Hamilton (1791), vol. I, p. 18.
Dimensions: 11 1/4 in. Dm x 13 1/2 in. W x 4 1/4 in. H
Condition: Excellent. less
Plantation, FL
Questions about the item?
Featured Promoted Listings
Related Collections
- Robin's Egg Blue Serving Dishes and Pieces
- Josiah Wedgwood Serving Dishes and Pieces
- Staffordshire Potteries Serving Dishes and Pieces
- Faux Bamboo Serving Dishes and Pieces
- Gio Ponti Serving Dishes and Pieces
- Sycamore Serving Dishes and Pieces
- Vanilla Serving Dishes and Pieces
- Lalique Serving Dishes and Pieces
- Libbey Glass Co. Serving Dishes and Pieces
- Camel Serving Dishes and Pieces
- Etruscan Revival Serving Dishes and Pieces
- Horn Serving Dishes and Pieces
- Carlton Ware Serving Dishes and Pieces
- Lefton Serving Dishes and Pieces
- Wilcox Silver Plate Co. Serving Dishes and Pieces
- Pistachio Serving Dishes and Pieces
- Glass Serving Dishes and Pieces
- Crystal Serving Dishes and Pieces
- Carnival Glass Candy Dishes
- Silver Serving Dishes and Pieces
- Limoges, France Serving Dishes and Pieces
- Aluminum Serving Dishes and Pieces
- Mid-Century Modern Serving Dishes and Pieces
- Amber Serving Dishes and Pieces
- Cake Stands