Tea at Trianon: Wedgwood Queen’s Ware

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Wedgwood Queen’s Ware

From Victoria:

Bearing adornments as sophisticated and enduring as the brand itself, Wedgwood’s Queen’s Ware patterns have remained in the hearts of collectors for generations. Mingling with whispers of roses and spirals of ribbon, these azure vessels evoke more than mere admiration. Remembered as “the Father of English Potters,” Josiah Wedgwood built an enterprise that has reigned for more than 250 years. In 1759, he began experimenting with mixtures of clay in order to formulate earthenware that could content with the porcelain industry and also make fine china more accessible to the working class. His creamware was not the first creation begat by these objectives, but it was certainly the highest quality. By 1765, Wedgwood’s commodities had caught the palace’s attention, and Queen Charlotte ordered a tea set that pleased her so much the brand was granted the title “Potter to Her Majesty.” Eager to multiply this success, the businessman renamed his creamware line “Queen’s Ware,” a worthy appellation for so fine a product. (Read more.)