Mistress Ford plaque

The WMODA archive features original artwork and other fascinating source material for research into ceramic art so let us know if you can help us build our reference library. A watercolor design for this striking Wedgwood Shakespearean wall plaque is a recent discovery.

Two watercolor designs, depicting Falstaff and Mistress Ford from Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor, were among some scraps of papers found at a London auction and are now in the WMODA archive. They are believed to be by Thomas Allen, one of Wedgwood’s leading Victorian artists. In 1881, he painted a series of wall plaques portraying Shakespearean characters with glittering gold backgrounds. The Mistress Ford and Desdemona plaques are at WMODA. The Falstaff plaque is at the Wedgwood Museum in Barlaston, England.