Mapping Birmingham: Pattern and Design Books

Private collection.

Object focus: A pair of enamelled wall plaques in gilt metal frames, depicting flowers in urns, transfer printed and over-painted, c. 1760s. Probably made in Birmingham or the Black Country.

Enamelling was conducted in Bilston and Wednesbury as well as Birmingham, so these plaques may have been name in any of these towns. They have been transfer printed, a process new to this period, and over-painted in vibrant enamel colours. Several butterflies flutter around the flowers.

The artisans making these decorative goods often took inspiration, or directly copied, from a range of books designed for engravers, enamellers, japanners, and other craftspeople; for ladies' needlework; as well as the general interest for the public. They were usually published in sets of six, such as the example below:

A Select Collection of the most beautiful Flowers, Drawn after Nature, after Heckel (1795, reprint from c. 1750-1770 prints).
Held at the V&A. One of a set of six.

See more prints, below:

The new range of goods which flooded shops and lives during the eighteenth century required inspiration, and one person serving this was Robert Sayer. Sayer produced sets of prints, usually in sets of six, over the 1750s and 1760s which served crafts such as enamelling, wallpaper making and fabric printing, and many surviving eighteenth-century goods contain imagery directly taken from these prints.

Some of these prints are considered to have been produced by Charles Fenn in Birmingham, but many appeared on Birmingham-made products in the eighteenth century, especially enamel boxes and other adornments. These include a squirrel bonbonnière, and similar images on several enamelled objects with swan designs.

The set of six prints included here was called A Book of Birds & Squirrels &c. The animal engravings were taken from original prints by Francis Barlow (c. 1626-1704) who was popular in the eighteenth century due to the natural poses of his animal prints.