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Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: Jim Sapp on March 01, 2009, 04:06:32 AM

Title: Webb/Barbe design - No 3123 Periwinkle?
Post by: Jim Sapp on March 01, 2009, 04:06:32 AM

I have a new example of a Webb/Barbe design.  Unless I am mistaken, it is Design Number 3123 - Periwinkle with a butterfly or moth.   This is only the second fairy lamp I have seen with this design.  Does anyone any any other examples of this design on "anything".  Or, know anything about this design?

http://www.fairy-lamp.com/Fairylamp/Temp/Butterfly_small.JPG

http://www.fairy-lamp.com/Fairylamp/Temp/Butterfly_01_small.JPG

Jim.

Title: Re: Webb/Barbe design - No 3123 Periwinkle?
Post by: keith on July 27, 2009, 02:55:53 PM

Yep, pattern 3123 Periwinkle,1887, can't find much else,got an acorn pattern vase myself would like more but pocket money won't stretch that far at the moment!

Title: Re: Webb/Barbe design - No 3123 Periwinkle?
Post by: Jim Sapp on July 27, 2009, 04:00:17 PM

I wrote an article about this design for the Fairy Lamp Club Newsletter.  If there is any interest, I would be happy to put it on-line.

Jim
www.fairylampclub.com

Title: Re: Webb/Barbe design - No 3123 Periwinkle?
Post by: Lustrousstone on July 27, 2009, 06:54:48 PM

Yes please Jim, your articles are always interesting

Title: Re: Webb/Barbe design - No 3123 Periwinkle?
Post by: Jim Sapp on July 27, 2009, 07:50:47 PM

Here you go:   

http://www.fairy-lamp.com/Fairylamp/Adobe_Files/Webb_Burmese_Decoration_Periwinkle.pdf

This article was extracted from the May 2009 issue of the Fairy Lamp Club Newsletter.  If anyone is interested in recieving a complementary copy, I would be happy to send it to you.

Jim
www.fairylampclub.com
www.fairylampforum.com

Title: Re: Webb/Barbe design - No 3123 Periwinkle?
Post by: Lustrousstone on July 27, 2009, 09:16:00 PM

Thank you. It's possible that the decorator/designer visited the Natural History Museum in search of inspiration, as the periwinkle is not native to the UK either; perhaps it was a must-have garden plant though.

Title: Re: Webb/Barbe design - No 3123 Periwinkle?
Post by: Paul S. on July 28, 2009, 10:43:39 AM

thanks for adding your article Jim  -  very interesting -  although I'm sorry to hear that the lamp cup has some damage, and as someone who has a particular liking for C19 pieces, I very much envy you this item.
May I add a few comments regarding the more entomological side of the story.   As you say, in the U.K. we have only a very few species of hawkmoth (in comparison with the rest of the warm world) - of which the rarer non-resident ones do indeed include the Oleander Hawk Moth, possibly one the rarest migrant species of lepidoptera to reach our shores.   Certainly the image on the lamp is of course simply an extremely stylized picture of a moth  -  and if you look at C18 and C19 ceramics, there are many examples of flying insects depicted, most of which owe nothing to the real world, rather more to a need for something colourful and exotic looking.   As a general rule, moths have fine thread like antennae  -  whereas the antennae of butterflies end in a club like lump.    Annoyingly, there are exceptions - some moths have club like antennae  -  some moths fly in the daytime  -  and we even have two hawk moths (in the U.K.) that mimic bees and fly in the daytime.
The illustration that you show in your article appears to represent quite accurately another of the very rare migrant species - the Spurge Hawk Moth  - not the Oleander Hawk (which is predominantly varous shades of green), whereas the Spurge is various shades of pink and brown (as in your picture).     The two species look absolutely nothing like each other - so there shud not be any confusion  -  and the reference to Oleander may well be simply because the Oleander is a hawk that, on the Continent,  eats vinca spp.   In the world of moths, many species of larvae are quite literally omnivorous, and I dare say wud be more than happy to settle for a salad of periwinkle (and some species do indeed actually even eat their own brothers and sisters if the green stuff gets a bit scarce!) 
I was surprised to read from Christine that periwinkle was non-native  -  when did the plant first come to this country? 
Paul S.   

Title: Re: Webb/Barbe design - No 3123 Periwinkle?
Post by: Lustrousstone on July 28, 2009, 11:03:44 AM

That I couldn't find out but the Greater Periwinkle was introduced from the Mediterranean and now seems to think it is native. It was introduced to the US in the mid 19C.

Title: Re: Webb/Barbe design - No 3123 Periwinkle?
Post by: Paul S. on July 28, 2009, 01:55:55 PM

thanks Christine  -  I know for a fact that there are at least two or three varieties in my own garden.       Paul S.