With Valentine’s Day approaching we are highlighting the love stories from the Commedia dell’Arte which feature in our latest exhibition Carnival & Cabaret and its spectacular Lladró centerpiece. All the performances of the Italian comedy revolved around young lovers, the Innamorati,  who are continually thwarted by their parents, notably Pantalone

When Louise Irvine was curating Biophilia ǀ The Elements at WMODA, she was surprised to find lots of serpentine designs in the ceramics collection to display with Christopher Marley’s snake specimens. For instance, the Wedgwood Fairyland Lustre Tree Serpent design depicts a snake coiling around a tree and shooting out

Some of the most striking exhibits in Carnival & Cabaret have been loaned or donated to the museum by collectors who wish to support our mission of celebrating and preserving the fired arts of ceramics and arts. Jeff and Penny Spellens of California recently acquired the rarest version of the

February is Black History month and at WMODA we are exploring how the Zulus have honored their heritage at Ardmore Ceramic Art in South Africa. As well as all the whimsical safari animals and vases decorated with local flora and fauna on display at the museum, the Ardmore sculptors have

Goldscheider production was interrupted during World War One but the roaring twenties saw a glittering revival thanks mainly to Marcel Goldscheider who became technical and artistic director having studied ceramic art in Vienna, France and England. A new decorative technique for Viennese Faience was patented in 1923 which combined underglaze

Goldscheider of Vienna now has a greater prominence at WMODA museum thanks to the generosity of Arthur Wiener and other keen collectors. The Goldscheider family first became involved in the ceramics business in the 1870s.  One of their ancestors was the foremost gold refiner and alchemist in Prague during the

By Louise Irvine Adam and Eve were the first man and woman according to the creation theory. In the Bible, God formed Adam from dust and placed him in the Garden of Eden where he is told he can eat freely except from the tree of the knowledge of good

Masques became popular in Tudor Times at the court of King Henry VIII. These lavish, dramatic entertainments were performed by masked players representing mythological or allegorical figures. Renaissance masques were commissioned from famous dramatists of the era and fused music, dance, poetry, lavish costumes and spectacular sets into one splendid