AFUW-ACT
Inc. Meeting Report
Topic: ROYAL WORCESTER AND MUSHROOMS
Speaker: CHERYL GRGURINOVIC
Cheryl described how she had found an early 20th century Royal Worcester
plate with the painting of a mushroom on it, one she hadn’t seen before.
The plates were made of porcelain which has 2 ingredients - kaolin and
Petuntse which is found only in China. There are three kinds of porcelain
one of which is bone china. Most of the world’s bone china is from England.
The first to make it were the Chinese in the Ming Dynasty.
Europeans tried to copy it; but didn’t know the secret. Worcester porcelain
was first produced in 1751. It was a technical advance when the porcelain
was made to hold tea. George III visited the factory in 1788 and was
so impressed he gave them permission to use Royal in the name.
The painters Stinton and Davis used postcards from Scotland to paint
hairy cattle on a twin handled vase. Other vases continued to be elaborate
and in 1903 Harry Davis painted the polar bear vase, now worth 20-30
thousand dollars.
Correspondence 1890 native flowers were used in Australia; interest
grew. Richard Baker had a strong interest in native flora. Phyllis Clarke
painted mushrooms. Professor JB Cleland named on species after her -
Mycena Clarkian.
Paintings were sent to Worcester for them to copy them on to porcelain.
Powerhouse Museum has 5 mushroom plates. Some are mycena cordineras
- a small red toadstool, painted by Reg Hart. Good plates are signed.
After 1926 the series became cheaper.
|
