The latest trees in the Georgia State Botanical Garden do not require water or sunlight. The 75 flowers are made of kaolin and bone china. An image of a Danish plant, meticulously reproduced from a folio-sized illustration drawn in the late 1700s and early 1800s.
The Tree of Life is on the wall of the main gallery of the Museum of Porcelain Decoration.
The building houses more than 1,000 pieces of porcelain and botanical illustrations, including drawings, paintings and bookbindings of Danish flora, donated by Dean Day Sanders, a longtime supporter of the State Botanical Gardens.
“What we do is different from the way a typical museum displays these items,” says Jenny Cruz Sanders. MS ’97, PhD ’03, Director of Georgia State Botanical Gardens. “We present these items in relation to natural history, biology and nature, so by observing these decorative arts, what we can learn about our world. The idea is to show you what you can do. “
The museum, which is part of the new Center for Arts and Nature, will further expand opportunities for garden staff to educate, enhance culture, research and experiential learning for faculty and students, with a focus on the relationship between art and nature. Make it possible.
The UGA Public Service and Outreach Unit, State Botanical Gardens, was founded over 50 years ago as a living laboratory to support science education. The garden is a place of discovery and provides resources not only to faculty and students, but also to the general public, who come from near or far.
Deen Day Sanders is President of the Georgia Gardens Club and President of the National Gardens Club. The Museum of Porcelain Decorative Arts holds important items donated from her collection and she is the only donor to fund its establishment.
The gardens appear to be cascaded outside the windows of the museum’s gallery, where Dorothy Doughty’s birds are on display. This is one of the largest collections of Dhoti birds published. Exhibiting porcelain in a botanical garden is as natural as exhibiting antique tea roses. Throughout the new museum, there are countless examples of porcelain inspired by botanical gardens and botanical exploration and scientific research in the natural environment.
Flora Danica, an encyclopedic study of the original Danish flora, has led to more than a century of research documenting the history of flora, along with detailed scientific drawings of each plant. In the late 1700s, the Danish prince commissioned a collection of porcelain that reflected detailed illustrations. Some are now visible in the Tree of Life.
“These works weren’t always beautiful, they were meant to be a conversation,” says Cruse-Sanders. “The best forms of art first created during the Enlightenment were meticulous reproductions of the discoveries made in nature.”
Natural light flows through the museum, illuminating ceramic figurines, plates, tea sets, chocolate pots and jars. One case contains a dozen or more iris figurines of yellow, purple, white, orange and pink. Some are by artist Diane Lewis.
“If you know anything about me, you can quickly see why it makes a lot of sense to me,” Sanders said. “Iris is my favorite flower and I love butterflies.”
As an apprentice flower maker at Royal Worcester Porcelain Studio, Lewis focused on delicate floral patterns made from clay. Colorful roses, irises, orchids and wildflowers will be part of the studio’s most popular series of American bird collections. Lewis studied under Dorothy Doughty. Dorothy Dauty’s birds were very collectable.
Lewis then founded the connoisseur of Malvern, a British porcelain factory that was active until the late 1900s.
More than 50 Lewis sculptures, including Deane Day Iris, Dean Day Lily and Dean Day Camellia, are on display in the museum.
“I saw it in Waterford,” Sanders said. “Then I started seeing her work here in America and started my collection.”
Sanders emphasized the influential work of another female artist, pointing out a master charger plate made in China around 1735-1740 that used glazed cobalt blue on a gold-plated white porcelain rim. increase. The design of the iris and butterfly in this work is based on the scientific illustrations of the German-born naturalist and artist Maria Civil Melian in the late 1600s and early 1700s.
Her work is watercolors and sculptures, but many are used as models for patterns such as porcelain plates, vases and tea sheets, in Meissen porcelain, Germany, where the first European porcelain factory was set up in 1710. Is also used. ..
When the Meissen factory was founded, Europeans were obsessed with Chinese porcelain. It was pure white and better than any other porcelain in the world.
The Germans decided to use the trade techniques of miners and smelters to create their own porcelain from Saxon clay. However, they could not make white pottery from red clay, so they replaced kaolin, a locally mined white subterranean substance.
Kaolin is native to Georgia and is mined near Sandersville (locally known as the world’s capital of Kaolin) in the United States and around the world for use in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, paper coatings and the manufacture of ceramics. Has been exported to.
One of Sanders’ favorite works, the church of the porcelain factory in Meissen, Germany (right), is on display in the museum. Believed to be one of the few in the world, she sat for years at the Cashiers in Sanders, North Carolina, a symbol of her Christianity.
“This church is very important to me because of my faith,” Sanders said. “I don’t get anything myself. If someone helps you along the way, you need to give back. If it’s given to you, you need to share it.”
Sanders was one of the early proponents of the State Botanical Gardens, initially serving as president of the Georgia Gardens Club, later as president of the National Garden Club and vice president of the World Flower Artists Association.
Her interest in flowers and porcelain began as a child.
“I had a Chinese teapot and cup that my uncle in the Navy brought me from China,” she said. “I loved playing with little dolls. I always like pretty and pretty things. So when I got married, I started collecting various porcelain that I thought was beautiful. And serious. When I was interested in buying and could afford it, I did, and I started collecting fine and rare porcelain. “
This church is very important to me because of my faith. I can’t get anything myself. If someone helps you along the way, you need to give back. If it is given to you, you need to share it. — Dean Day Sanders, the only donor to help establish the Museum of Porcelain Decoration at the Georgia Botanical Gardens
She found many works while traveling and at auctions. Virginia White, an interior designer for Sanders, has found some in antique stores and others have commissioned others on behalf of Sanders. Jim, Husband of Sanders, asked Diane Lewis to create Dean’s iris as a Christmas present for his wife in 2019.
“The State Botanical Garden is by far the most natural place in the world to showcase the porcelain and decorative arts that Dean has collected over the years to reflect her interests,” said Cruz Sanders. “And Dean has been passionate about botanical gardens, flowers, butterflies, and the beauty she sees in nature throughout her life.
One of her main exhibits is a collection of coffee, tea and chocolate serving sets. All of these are produced from plants around the world that had to be cultivated, propagated, produced and provided. The museum tells these and many more stories about the relationship between plants and decorative arts.
“I want this museum to interpret nature in words and examples,” Sanders said. “I want visitors to know that everything you do has a botanical element. I think art captures and imitates nature. At this museum, we correlate with it. Will be able to show. “
