Aesthetic Movement Transferware China

Today I headed an hour and half north, where I had an excellent lunch and lovely long visit with an old college friend. 

 

Then while visiting up north I also dropped by to see Korrie of Red Hen Home to pick up a favorite quote ... she is moving and is having a sale on her blog.  She even has the William Morris quote, that I am about to use, in this blog post, for sale.

 

Last of all, on my way home, as I am prone to do, I stopped at a second hand store and found this!!

 

No it wasn't cheap, but it was a bargain for what it is.  And happy day for me, it is my favorite collectible as well.  It is called Aesthetic Transferware and it was made in England in the 1880's.

 

Here is part of my collection at home.  This shelf is in my library, and I have other pieces in the room as well.

The Aesthetic Movement occurred during the last quarter of the 19th century.  Those leading the movement believed in beauty for its own sake.  William Morris, a textile designer and leader of the movement said, “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”. 

The Aesthetic Movement had strong a strong Asian influence, and most of the transferware designs were asymmetrical.  They often had small framed scenes as part of the composition.  Nature was strongly alluded to in most Aesthetic designs.

I would not call the brown transferware tureen above an aesthetic piece, but it did come with the other items, all part of a set, that I bought this evening.

Of course the bird in the design helped me to deal with the sticker shock.

 

 

 

Oh, and I thought it was sort of funny, when I got home and compared my new acquisitions to my established collection, that this set is the same pattern as the tea pot and sugar bowl that I already had.  Now I have a Tea Pot and two Sugar bowls!

 

 

Oh, and I am strongly considering using my collection to set my Thanksgiving table ... what do you think?