Collecting old objects, I am told, has fallen from favor with millennials, who are said to believe that money is for buying memories, not material objects. They prefer splurging on fleeting pleasures--think spa time, rock concert tickets, sky diving adventures--that involve no long-term commitment. In short, millennials want to spend on experiences rather than "things." They believe that their adventures will give them more social media sharing opportunities, more to talk (or boast) about with their friends (all those people that they encounter predominantly in cyberspace.) As millennials sit in their boringly bare minimalist homes gazing at their iPads, they have a lot to learn! We collectors know that owning a beautiful object is an enduringly thrilling experience. Again and again, handling it makes your heart beat a little faster, and you catch your breath as its sheer beauty overwhelms you. Who can say that about a long-gone frivolous pleasure?
I bought the plaque below known as Patricia and her Lover many years ago. Each time I look at it or even think of it, I catch my breath. It is impressively large at 13.8" and was made circa 1785. It is attributed to Ralph Wood.
I bought the plaque below known as Patricia and her Lover many years ago. Each time I look at it or even think of it, I catch my breath. It is impressively large at 13.8" and was made circa 1785. It is attributed to Ralph Wood.
In my early collecting days, I fell in love with this plaque, pictured (but the negative was flipped) in John Hall's Staffordshire Portrait Figures, and I often opened that little book just to gaze at it. The colors are particularly strong, and they are in the glaze itself, which makes them especially vibrant. Patricia and her admirer are in super-high relief...but it is the faces that grab my attention. Clearly, Patricia is flirting with him, and they both know it. Her coquetry, his lust, and the little dog's playfulness are age-old emotions that bring to life an object made about 230 years ago.
In the 1990s we regularly visited New York, and I would admire the pottery displayed in Leo Kaplan’s beautiful Madison Avenue shop window. For a while the window held a pair of separate plaques of Patricia and her lover, like the pair below.
In the 1990s we regularly visited New York, and I would admire the pottery displayed in Leo Kaplan’s beautiful Madison Avenue shop window. For a while the window held a pair of separate plaques of Patricia and her lover, like the pair below.
From Frank Falkner, "The Wood Family of Burslem."
| Notice that the plaque of Patricia is the larger, and that of her lover the smaller. I assume they were made in different sizes so that when hung on a wall he might appear to be gazing at her from afar. This pair is from Falkner's The Wood Family of Burslem, published over a century ago. They seem to be strongly colored, but I don't know if they exist any more--I shudder to think of what time, and the WW2 Blitz in particular, have claimed. On the other hand, the Kaplan pair, the only other pair I know of, were in softer browns and greens, rather like the single plaque of Patricia shown alongside. |  Courtesy Christie's. |
Below is the source engraving for these plaques. It is titled Jack on a Cruise and sub-titled Avast there! Back your mainsail.” Patricia’s billowing skirt is no doubt the “mainsail,”and it has been suggested that the plaque was perhaps a commentary on “the extravagant millinery of the end of the 18th century.” Clearly, the plaque should also be called "Jack on a Cruise" rather than "Patricia and her Lover," and I don't know why it is not.
Courtesy Martyn Edgell. A similar engraving on the same theme is also found transfer-printed on mugs, as seen on the creamware mug alongside.
For completion, I note that Ralph Wood is thought to be the potter who also made this subject on a square plaque, as shown below. I know of only this colored example (again, does it still exist?), as well as one plaque that was left in the white (in the Willett Collection). As you see, the figures on the square plaque differ from those on the oval one. And I suspect the design does not have the astonishingly high relief found on the oval plaque.
From Frank Falkner, "The Wood Family of Burslem."
My oval plaque pictured at the top of this post is an awesome object—and I mean that in the literal sense of the words. I pause in silent homage each time I look at it. When I take it off the wall to handle it—which I do always for special visitors—I still get goosebumps. Despite its size, it is very light because it is so thinly potted. The relief is very high. The back is dry (unglazed) and coated with dirt from the kiln and from hanging in rooms heated by coal. The inked mark on the reverse reads “ASPATRIA CUMBERLAND” and is probably the mark of a former owner who lived in the Cumberland town of Aspatria.
Because plaques like this have been documented in the literature for many years, it is easy to conclude that a plethora of them exist. Not so! Rather, best I can tell, the same two plaques seem to have been recorded again and again--although telling one from the other in old, black and white photographs is exacting.
Today, I looked up my collection records to see what I paid for our Patricia and her Lover, and it was shockingly expensive.....but it was worth every penny because it is an experience in pleasure that I have enjoyed for ages and intend enjoying for the rest of my days. Will younger generations feel the same way about their frivolous pleasurable experiences? I doubt it. They believe objects depreciate while memories appreciate. Oh, do they have a lot to learn!
Today, I looked up my collection records to see what I paid for our Patricia and her Lover, and it was shockingly expensive.....but it was worth every penny because it is an experience in pleasure that I have enjoyed for ages and intend enjoying for the rest of my days. Will younger generations feel the same way about their frivolous pleasurable experiences? I doubt it. They believe objects depreciate while memories appreciate. Oh, do they have a lot to learn!
