Flower brick

A flower brick is a type of vase, cuboid-shaped like a building brick, and designed to be seen with the long face towards the viewer.[1][2]

Traditional flower bricks are made of a ceramic material, usually delftware or other tin-glazed earthenware.[3][4][5][6][7] The top surface has a large hole into which water is poured, and a number of smaller holes into which flower stems are inserted, so that the flowers are kept in position. These vessels are a sub-type of the boughpot or tulipiere, which have more rounded shapes.[3] Flower bricks are thought to have been the most common vessel for flowers besides vases in the 18th century.[7]

Some scholars suggest that flower bricks may have been used as quill holders and inkwells during the 17th century, although this is debated.[6] There are few surviving pictorial representations of these objects in use during the 17th or 18th century.[6]

Examples
  • English flower brick, c.1750-1760, by unknown maker. Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware), 3 1/2 × 2 3/8 × 5 1/2 in. (8.9 × 6 × 14 cm). Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
    English flower brick, c.1750-1760, by unknown maker. Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware), 3 1/2 × 2 3/8 × 5 1/2 in. (8.9 × 6 × 14 cm). Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
  • Flower brick (c. 1750), London. Tin-glazed earthenware, 14.6 × 9.2 × 7.3 cm (5 3/4 × 3 5/8 × 2 7/8 in.). Art Institute of Chicago.
    Flower brick (c. 1750), London. Tin-glazed earthenware, 14.6 × 9.2 × 7.3 cm (5 3/4 × 3 5/8 × 2 7/8 in.). Art Institute of Chicago.
  • Flower brick, Liverpool, England. Tin-glazed earthenware, made in Liverpool around 1760. Walker Art Gallery.
    Flower brick, Liverpool, England. Tin-glazed earthenware, made in Liverpool around 1760. Walker Art Gallery.

References
  1. "BBC One - Antiques Roadshow, Series 36, Sainsbury Centre Norwich 1, English Delftware flower bricks". BBC Online. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  2. "Flower brick". Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  3. Geall, Christin (2020). Cultivated : the elements of floral style. Erin Benzakein (1st ed.). New York. p. 53. ISBN 978-1-61689-932-5. OCLC 1146232983.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. Marking time : objects, people, and their lives, 1500-1800. Edward Town, Angela McShane, Yale Center for British Art. New Haven. 2020. ISBN 978-0-300-25410-5. OCLC 1139014022.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. Dawson, Aileen (2010). English & Irish delftware 1570-1840. London: British Museum Press. ISBN 978-0-7141-2810-8. OCLC 501396922.
  6. "Flower brick". Five Colleges and Historic Deerfield Consortium Collections Database. Retrieved 2021-10-26.
  7. "Unknown English Flower Brick". The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.


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