Willow pattern

Ratatouille.

I think it was supposed to be used for display purposes only, unlike Willow Pattern.

But why? Why make it into a picture?

A poster? Why was it on a plate? I don't know.

The end of The Two Husbands by Carolyn Wells

The Willow Pattern by Mrs. Willoughby Hodgson This is a LibriVox recording.

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The admirers and collectors of earthenware and porcelain decorated with the willow pattern are so numerous that it seems to me my book would not be complete without a chapter devoted to a subject so picturesque both in history and design.

The poem and story of the willow pattern were taught to me in childhood by my grandmother, who was born in Staffordshire in 1800 and was a great authority on matters connected with the potteries in her youth.

Who has not heard the fascinating little poem? Two pigeons flying high, Chinese vessel sailing by, weeping willow hanging o'er bridge with three men, if not four.

Chinese temple there it stands, Seems to cover all the land.

THE

WILLOW PATTERN by Mrs. Willoughby Hodgson.

This is a LibriVox recording.

All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.

the admirers and collectors of earthenware and porcelain decorated with the willow pattern are so numerous that it seems to me my book would not be complete without a chapter devoted to a subject so picturesque both in history and design the poem and story of the willow pattern were taught to me in childhood by my grandmother who was born in staffordshire in eighteen hundred and was a great authority on matters connected with the potteries in her youth who has not heard the fascinating little poem two pigeons flying high chinese vessel sailing by weeping willow hanging o'er bridge with three men if not four chinese temple there it stands seems to cover all the land apple tree with apples on a pretty fence to end my song there are i believe several versions of the rhyme but this is the form in which it was taught me by my grandmother and never shall i forget the pride with which i recited it to a group of admiring brothers and sisters and pointed out to them the story on the plate she gave me nor is the little poem the only story connected with the willow pattern tradition ascribes the scenes depicted to incidents in the love story of a beautiful chinese maiden kung shee was the daughter of a wealthy mandarin and loved chang her father's secretary the mandarin who wished his daughter to marry a wealthy suitor forbade the marriage and shut his daughter up in an apartment on the terrace of the house which is seen in the pattern to the left of the temple from her prison kung shee watched the willow-tree blossom and wrote poems in which she expressed her ardent longings to be free ere the peach bloomed chang managed to communicate with her by means of a writing enclosed in a small cocoanut shell which was attached to a tiny sail and kung shee replied in these words scratched on an ivory tablet do not wise husbandmen gather the fruits they fear will be stolen and sent them in a boat to her lover chang by means of a disguise entered the mandarin's garden and succeeded in carrying off kung shee the three figures on the bridge represent kung shee with a distaff chang carrying a box of jewels and the mandarin following with a whip the lovers escaped and lived happily ever after in chang's house on a distant island until after many years the outraged wealthy suitor found them out and burnt their home when from the ashes of the bamboo grove their twin spirits rose phoenix-like in the form of two doves the original english rendering of the willow pattern was designed and engraved by thomas minton for thomas turner of cockley in seventeen eighty and specimens are generally marked with a crescent in blue under glaze filled in the letter c in various forms and the letter s sometimes associated with a small cross or cross swords All these are in underglaze blue and are very roughly drawn.

There are three names associated with this factory, namely Turner, who was the maker, Cochley, because the original owner of the works lived at Cochley Hall, and Salopian, because the town was in the county of Salop.

both earthenware and porcelain were made by turner but the specimens illustrated on plate twenty nine which are porcelain have a different rendering of the pattern from that which was first engraved by minton and it is well to bear in mind that the earliest pattern was the one which illustrated the poem and story for this reason the cockley turner pattern is generally called the story pattern to distinguish it from other renderings of the willow pattern thomas minton was the great-grandfather of the present thomas minton and founder of the minton factory where the willow pattern has always been and is still being made copper plates were engraved by minton and sold to many factories but there were slight differences in all of them and this is one of the reasons why a study of this kind of ware is so interesting the patterns of fences differ there are more apples in some than in others and whereas in the original design there were five kinds of trees on others there are often only three or four in addition to the story or first pattern there are other willow pattern designs all oriental and all equally interesting some have one man some two men on the bridge and all of them have a willow in a prominent position these patterns copied from porcelain which was so largely imported from china at that time were engraved between seventeen eighty and seventeen ninety by minton and his assistants one of the first of the designs was the pagoda or second period pattern made for josiah in this design the temple or pagoda is to the left and on the bridge which connects the gardens with a bank on the right are two men on the bank to the right may be seen a peach tree and an apple tree behind the temple is a wall with trees behind it and between it and the temple the fence is shorter than the one in the first design and has what is known as the swastika fret a conventional border used with this design is the butterfly border it seems to have been arranged by first drawing a butterfly as nature made it and then by use of petals and fish-row motifs conventionalised between the butterflies and separating them is the sceptre or jew e made up of curved lines which are filled in with trellis pattern the lattice pattern on the rise of the plate is also somewhat different from the cockley design a butterfly design which differs slightly from the last is the curl and butterfly border and still another also engraved by minton for spode is the dagger border this is exactly like a nankin plate in my possession with little daggers forming a second row round the rim the third willow pattern period dates from eighteen hundred to eighteen thirty during which time most english factories and several continental ones made use of it in various forms and during this time it was not unusual to find specimens marked with the staffordshire knot this device being also used on the top of covers in place of or round the knob following the prevailing fashion wedge-wood used the willow pattern pieces marked wedge-wood and bearing this decoration are to be met with the pattern is a faithful copy of the cockley pattern except in two particulars namely the fret of the fence and the number of apples on the tree wedgwood's plate having thirty-four and the dishes more davenport plates have twenty-five apples and there is a difference in the fret pattern in the rise of the plate the adams plate has thirty-two apples and on the dishes will be found fifty apples the edges of plates and dishes are sometimes plain and sometimes indented the fence is like the cockley one but the pattern in the rise is squarer than the former spode copied the story or cockley pattern in addition to the other designs engraved for him and on his plate will be found thirty-two apples the five trees namely the willow peach plum fir and the tree with dark circles the fence however is more intricate clews who also used the pattern followed the cockley lines but there are thirty-four apples on his tree there are other renderings of the willow pattern all of them more or less alike but with slight differences in detail a study of which will materially add to the collector's interest in his collection The Swansea willow pattern was transfer printed in dark and light blue, also in black and brown.

in addition to the larger pieces generally met with such as dishes plates and tea sets many small and dainty specimens were made such as leaf dishes with the pattern on the inside the edges dentated and the outside veined like a leaf soup and sauce ladles and also pretty little pickle dishes are still to be picked up at a moderate price the willow pattern by mrs willoughby hodgson