The scientific study of the natural world was never far removed from Wedgwood's ceramic decoration, and nowhere is the connection clearer than in the "Botanical Flowers" series. Flowers are presented not as nosegays or rococo garlands, but as individual specimens, doubtless derived from botanical treatises or horticultural manuals. The artistry comes from the straightforward presentation of plant material, not through the manipulation or arrangement of any designer. Appropriate to the goal of accuracy was the employment of underglaze printing--a fairly recent practice at Wedgwood around 1808/9 when the pattern was introduced.

Avoiding any distraction, the plant specimens are presented on a blank ground with an extremely simple border of interlocking oval loops.

Our six soups differ from the original underglaze blue and instead adopt brown printing on a creamy ivory ground, a combination consistent with Wedgwood's 1870's production.

Credit for the development of the "Botanical Flowers" series is generally given to John, eldest son of Josiah I, who was active in the pottery after 1804. Not only was he a key actor in the initiation of underglaze printing at Wedgwood, but was also a keen botanist and gardener, instrumental in the founding of the Royal Horticultural Society.

It was not unusual for Wedgwood to continue production of early printed patterns in the last half of the nineteenth century. Given the 1870's production date here, however, one cannot help but note the coincidental similarity to popular patterns like Minton's "Naturalist" with scattered isolated motifs on a blank ground--a manifestation of the craze for Japanese influenced goods current at the time. A possible motivator for this generation of the botanical designs?