Daisy Makeig-Jones - Wedgwood Fairyland Lustre

Daisy Makeig-Jones – Wedgwood Fairyland Lustre. Susannah Margaretta “Daisy” Makeig-Jones (1881–1945) was a pottery designer for Wedgwood. She is best known for her “Fairyland Lustre” series.

A Daisy Makeig-Jones Wedgwood Flame Fairyland Lustre Vase in the 'Tree Serpent' Pattern — A Daisy Makeig-Jones Wedgwood Flame Fairyland Lustre Vase in the ‘Tree Serpent’ Pattern PRINTED FACTORY MARKS; CIRCA 1920 shape number 3149, pattern number ‘Z5360’ height 31.5cm. Sold at Bonhams for £4,750

Fairyland Lustre Bowl Woodland Bridge — A WEDGWOOD FAIRYLAND LUSTRE ‘WOODLAND BRIDGE I (EXTERIOR), PICNIC BY A RIVER (INTERIOR)’ IMPERIAL BOWL DESIGNED BY DAISY MAKEIG-JONES, CIRCA 1930 With gilt-heightened decoration, under glaze printed label ‘WEDGWOOD ENGLAND’ and in black marked ‘Z 4968 D’ 3 ½ in. (9 cm.) high; 8 in. (20 cm.) diameter

Wedgwood Fairyland Lustre Vase — A Wedgwood Fairyland Lustre “Pillar” porcelain vase. Urn-form, scenic panels in shades of orange, green, and cobalt blue, with gilt fairies and creatures framed by pillars. Stamped Portland mark with “Wedgwood, Made in England”, and Z5360. Restored, the neck has been restored/reattached to the body, some surface wear. 14″ high. Sold for $1,400 at Schmidt’s Antiques Inc.

Daisy Makeig-Jones Fairyland Lustre Vase "Torches" — A Wedgwood Fairyland Lustre ‘Torches’ vase, circa 1920-25 designed by Daisy Makeig-Jones, of cylindrical form with a spreading foot and rim, printed factory mark, painted Z4968 I mark, impressed shape number 3177. 28.5cm., 11 1/4 in. high. usannah Margaretta Makeig-Jones (1881–1945), ‘Daisy’ as she was known since childhood began her career as a trainee ceramic designer at the Wedgwood factory in 1909. Only five years later in 1916 she introduced the phenomenal range to which this vase belongs known as Fairyland Lustre. This pattern is discussed by Una des Fontaines, Wedgwood Fairyland Lustre, 1975, p. 195. Sold for 5,000 GBP at Sothebys.

Ghostly Wood Wedgwood Fairyland Lustre Jar — Fairyland lustre jar and lid. Jar has bulbous body, with small neck and close fitting lid. The decoration “Ghostly Wood” is inspired by the illustrations of ‘The Legend of Croquemitaine’ by Gustave Doré, with woods, ghosts, fairies and goblins. Victoria and Albert Museum

Imps on a Bridge Fairyland Lustre Plate — The Wedgwood factory gave Susannah Margaretta (Daisy) Makeig-Jones (1881-1945) her own design studio in 1915. Drawing on her early love of fairy stories, she introduced an imaginative line of decorative wares that remained popular throughout the 1920s. This particular design was introduced in 1924. Engravers transferred Makeig-Jones’s designs to copper plates for printing onto paper sheets known as pottery tissues. While the ink was still wet on the pottery tissues, the images were rubbed onto the ceramic surfaces. Women painters then applied the colors to these designs on the ceramics, a process that necessitated several firings, and then added the colorful glazes. The gold details were added last. The Walters Art Museum

Susannah Margaretta “Daisy” Makeig-Jones (1881–1945) was a pottery designer for Wedgwood. She is best known for her “Fairyland Lustre” series.

Makeig-Jones was born in Wath-upon-Dearne near Rotherham, Yorkshire, the eldest of seven children. Her father, K. Geoffrey Makeig-Jones, was of Welsh descent and was a medical doctor, and her mother was the daughter of Thomas Reeder, a solicitor. Makeig-Jones was taught by a governess at home, then attended a boarding school near Rugby. After her family moved to Torquay, she entered the Torquay School of Art. After an introduction from a relative to the managing director of Cecil Wedgwood, Makeig-Jones joined the firm as an apprentice painter in 1909.

Daisy Makeig-Jones’s fascination with fairies, following such illustrators as Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac and the Danish artist, Kay Nielsen, proved very popular in the 1920s. Wedgwood have always produced a huge range of styles to capture different market tastes. The cosy drawing room and nursery atmosphere of the decoration of these works, and the monumental forms, contrast sharply with the modernist works being produced at Wedgwood’s in the same period.

Targeting the luxury end of the market with these pieces, they represent one of Wedgwood’s most extraordinary technical achievements in the ceramic industry. The richly coloured ornament of Fairyland Lustre was extremely popular throughout the 1920s as expensive collector’s pieces. But by the 1930s the appeal of lustre was waning and the collapse of the American market had a noticable effect on the demand for ornamental wares. Fairyland was gradually phased out in the 1930s as Keith Murray and Norman Wilson were taken up. Fairyland was considered too expensive and old-fashioned.
[Susan McCormack, ‘British Design at Home’, p.113] Reference Victoria and Albert Museum