One of my favorite decorating books is Signature Style: Creating Beautiful Interiors from Traditional Home Books. The book is about finding your own approach to design. All of the interiors are Traditional, but the eight different designers have very different approaches. There are a lot of photos, as you would expect. But the designers explain…
Blue Willow and other Chinese looking patterns are transferware. Transferware was developed in England sometime in the 1750s and became enormously popular. Transfer-printed dishes were affordable. Cobalt blue, like Blue Willow, was the most popular, but transferware was also available in green, yellow, red, pink, purple, cranberry, brown, black and gray. The style is timeless….
Examples by E Wood and Sons, William Smith & Co and other traditional houses were made in browns, reds and other popular shades. The composition of gondolas in the waters of Venice are bordered with bold florals with a grand Italian feel. The example from the Madison Bay Company uses multiple shades of an attractive…
Similar to the Gondola pattern, the Green Toile tea set is transfer-printed in green on white porcelain with a classic English tea pattern. The teapot holds five cups. The teacups are 4″ in diameter. The saucers are 5 3/4″ across. The Green Botanical pattern from the Madison Bay Company has a beautifully shaped tea cup…
The Madison Bay Company out of Pennsylvania markets reproductions of vintage china, mostly through museum gift shops. They make china that looks just like the antiques, but it is microwave and dishwasher safe. You can buy sets or purchase it by the piece. I just found that you can get some of the pieces on…
The Madison Bay Company, out of Pennsylvania, distributes antique reproduction tea sets made using the transferware process popular in the late 1700s. Liberty Blue isn’t really an antique reproduction. The pattern wasn’t made until more recently. The original Liberty Blue was Staffordshire china made by Enoch Wedgwood to commemorate the Bicentenial. It wasn’t expensive. Through…
This cheerful tea service is made with cranberry red transferware. It has a nautical motif, a ship in full sail, similar to the more complex pattern on Staffordshire Salem Fairwinds transferware. The tall cream pitcher and sugar bowl coordinate with a pot that is a compromise between the fuller shape of a traditional tea-pot and…
The Madison Bay Company, out of Pennsylvania, distributes antique reproduction tea sets made using the transferware process popular in the late 1700s. Although most transferware was made in cobalt blue, other shades became popular in America in the early 1800s. The Charleston or Carolina pattern is a classic brown transferware with low country scenes. Brown…
The Equestrian pattern is transfer-printed in black on white porcelain. A beautiful high-contrast design that is oh, so traditional. Equestrian transferware, with hunting scenes, carriage scenes or other scenes drawn from English or early American life are a traditional in vintage porcelain. These examples have an 18th century scene on each side of the traditional…
The Madison Bay Company also makes mini tea sets in a reproduction botanical floral Rose pattern in both cobalt blue and traditional red versions. Perfect for a tea party, these little sets are about half sized. They come with a small teapot, only 4 1/2″ long spout to handle and 3 1/2″ high. The miniature…
