Flower Brick

CultureEnglish
Titles
  • Flower Brick
Datec. 1750–1760
Probable placeLondon, England
MediumTin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
Dimensions3 3/4 × 2 3/4 × 5 5/8 in. (9.5 × 7 × 14.3 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.56.102
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Ceramics Study Room
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

Delftware is a variety of earthenware with tin oxide added to its lead glaze formula to give an opaque white effect that was often used to imitate, or at least suggest, the appearance of Chinese porcelain. First produced in England in the late 1500s, delftware grew in popularity in the 1600s as potteries flourished in London, Bristol, and elsewhere in the British Isles. Metallic oxides provided a range of colors for decoration: cobalt for blue, manganese for purple, iron for red, copper for green, and antimony for yellow. Delftware was relatively soft and chipped easily. By the mid-1700s, more durable soft-paste porcelains and salt-glazed stonewares grew in popularity; by the early 1800s, delftware production in England had declined dramatically.

Other than vases, flower bricks seem to have been the most common vessel for flowers in the 1700s. There is no known record of what they were called at the time. This example is decorated in cobalt blue with a landscape view with a male and female figure in the foreground.


Provenance[D. M. & P. Manheim, New York]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1956; given to MFAH, by 1966.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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scan of file photograph
c. 1750–1760
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.55.25
scan from file photograph
c. 1750–1760
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.56.149
Flower Brick
c. 1750–1760
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.51.3
Ointment Pot
c. 1700–1750
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.59.134
scan from file photograph
c. 1780–1800
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.59.99
Dinner Plate
c. 1740–1750
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.56.65
Dinner Plate
c. 1740
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.56.41.1
Dinner Plate (one of a pair)
c. 1770
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.56.88.1
Dinner Plate (one of a pair)
c. 1770
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.56.88.2
Punch Bowl
c. 1770
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.56.89
scan from file photograph
c. 1740–1750
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.72.103.1
Plate
1702
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.56.98