With the notion of "tulip mania" came the idea of self-benefit. Potters the world-over began producing ceramics with the tulip motif often boldly and sometimes, subtly placed. Plain and simple, merchants and ceramists were looking to cash in on the tulip craze. England, Germany, America and the Netherlands receive most the credit today, but the design really first began in Turkey and possibly with the production Iznik Pottery.
Iznik Pottery is a type of ceramic that was first produced in the fifteenth and up through the sixteenth centuries. The pottery was named after the town it was produced in.
Iznik Pottery Dish - Turkey
Circa 1575-1580
Use of Tulip Decoration
Photo Courtesy: Bonham's - London
Iznik Earthenware Dish - Turkey
Circa 1575-1580
Use of Tulip Decoration
Sold for $29,400 in 2001
Photo Courtesy: Bonham's - London
The tulip's popularity and cultivation is suggested to have begun in the Netherlands. Ogier de Busbecq is reportedly credited with introducing the flower to Europe. According to Wikipedia, "the peak of tulip mania was in March of 1637 when bulbs purportedly sold for upwards or more than ten times the average salary of a skilled craftsman." That's incredible! The definition of a craftsman was not suggested, but it is assumed that included a potter, blacksmith, cobbler and such. How could a tulip bulb possibly be worth more than an accomplished artisan!? It wasn't only described as worth more, but with a suggestion as large as ten times more. That is a tremendous amount. This really does speak to the flower's popularity and its involvement through obsession with the early European people. This also demonstrates the class-level associated with the tulip and what the wealthy were willing to spend for a variety of colors and rare styles. They may call it mania, but I call it passion.
Dutch Delftware Lobed Dish - Netherlands
17th Century, Circa 1690
Photo Courtesy: Bonham's - London
Aside from the Dutch, the Germans and English are known to have produced an endless amount of ceramics which demonstrated the flower.
Tin Glazed Earthenware Plate - Germany or England
Late 16th or 17th Century
Photo Courtesy: Hyde Park Country Auctions - Salt Point, NY
English Delftware Charger
18th Century, Circa 1700
Photo Courtesy: Bonham's - London
Romania is also known for manufacturing fine ceramic examples. The country's influence likely came directly from Turkey. They both are nearly neighboring countries and it is assumed the influence was from direct trade or early interaction.
Cobalt Decorated Earthenware Plate - Romania
18th Century, Circa 1780
Photo Courtesy: Dr. Fischer Fine Art Auctions - Germany
The use of the tulip as a means of design was even seen as far east as China and Japan within the early ceramic exports. Chinese exports are especially known for the decoration.
Chinese Export Earthenware Teapot
Early 18th Century, Circa 1700
Photo Courtesy: The Antiques Road Show, PBS
Potters and their use of tulips continued into the nineteenth-century in countries that included the Netherlands, Germany, England and America. I have previously reported on the decorative styles of England and America during the seventeenth thru early nineteenth centuries.
Dutch Delftware Charger - Netherlands
19th Century
Photo Courtesy: Skinner, Inc - Boston
William Grueby used the flower at his art pottery and tile company in South Boston, Massachusetts during the American Arts and Crafts Movement. What is purportedly a flower in which may have first been introduced to the world of ceramics in the fifteenth-century in Turkey - was still in use at the turn of the twentieth-century by one of the most accomplished art potters of the era. That is certainly a long-lasting trend in the ceramics world and the style probably still stands true today with studio pottery.
William Grueby Art Pottery Tile - South Boston, Ma
Late 19th or Very Early 20th Century
Photo Courtesy: Craftsman Auctions - Lambertville, NJ
If you were to carefully examine all the cited examples of this report, you would notice (outside of the Grueby tile) none were made of red clay and resembled redware. There are known redware examples that were produced during the period in Germany, but the majority of the products developed in Continental Europe and the Far East were a much more refined ceramic. The English products were less predictable from the large group of potters who worked in the country. This is where the real Americanized transformation really took place. The use of tulips in eighteenth and nineteenth century America was mainly for utilitarian needs. It was used on both stoneware and redware products that were mainly found in Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina. Perhaps, the use may be found in West Virginia, too. It was really this region that embraced the flower and created wonderful and unique examples that are demonstrated in such a way that the rest of the world had never seen.
It appears Europe and the Far East's interpretation of the flower was designed much-more as a style used in fine tableware for formal settings - while America's use of the tulip really demonstrated what is expected and assumed from utilitarian wares of the Colonial and Federal Periods. The use of the flower in early America, transformed the basic utilitarian wares into works of art that are desired by museums, institutions and collectors, alike today. The American potters production method of manufacturing forms, in general did not change from potter-to-potter, but what did was the decoration and glaze styles. To include the obvious: the tulip altered a plain ware into an example that all can be proud to own from the forms birth up through today.
Much more to come on tulips in early ceramics...
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