Tuesday, April 16, 2019
OSMT Meeting at Cheekwood
7 pm Presentation:
Rickey Schneider on “Orchids in Art”
Location: Cheekwood Botanical Gardens – directions, 1200 Forrest Park Drive, Nashville Tennessee 37205
Please join us for Rickey’s talk at Cheekwood at 7pm which will be educational and nature breathtaking images. This is an excerpt from Rickey’s published article.
My wife Molly and I have both been interested in horticulture all our married life. I have grown orchids for 46 years. Thus, we have always been attracted to art pottery decorated with plants and flowers, especially orchids. We enjoy a garden in our home without the effort our outdoor garden require.
Orchids are a popular subject for decoration on American pottery dating from the early years of Cincinnati and Zanesville potteries. Orchid culture was introduced into the United States in the mid-19th century and at first in only a few cities. In the 1880’s there was likely little orchid culture in cities like Cincinnati. The Krohn Conservatory down the hill from Rookwood on Mt Adams only opened in 1933. Thus, orchid portraits on art pottery were chiefly copied from illustrations in books and magazines, many from England. I have found the majority of orchid vases from Rookwood, with fewer from Weller. The most signed orchid vases I have seen from Weller were by Hester Pillsbury.
The two orchids most often depicted were cattleyas and paphiopedilums (ladyslippers which were known as cypripedium in that era). Phalaenopsis, currently the most popular potted house plant, were not widely cultivated until later in the 20th century. On a few vases Valentien inscribed the name of the orchid depicted. This collection includes two vases inscribed “cypripedium Io” and “cypripedium argus.” There is also a large standard glazed ewer decorated with cattleya warszawiszii with its name on the bottom. Joseph Ritter von Rawisz Warszawicz discovered and collected this orchid in Columbia in 1850. It took several decades for the plant to be grown successfully, painted, and published for the publication to be available in Cincinnati.