A table centrepiece, which may have a large central bowl or dish, and a series of smaller bowls suspended from a central stem or branches, with the smaller bowls used to display sweetmeats. Some of the grander examples were made in silver, but epergnes were also made in ceramic and glass.
Popular in Victorian times, a centrepiece was designed to stand on a dining table or sideboard, and convey the theme of the gathering such as Christmas or Easter, as well as the social status of the owner. Often very elaborately made, they can take many forms, including epergnes, sculpture, multi basket containers for fruit or sweetmeats, and large bowls. They have been made in a variety of materials including glass, ceramics, silver, silverplate and bronze. Centrepiece is also the name given to the central feature of an item of jewellery such as a necklace or bracelet.
The Belleek porcelain factory was founded in County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland about 1849, after landowner John Caldwell Bloomfield inherited his father's estate, and undertaking a geological survey, discovered the area was rich in minerals.
Bloomfield went into partnership with a London architect and a Dublin merchant and set up a pottery business to provide work for the tenant farmers whose lives had been decimated by the Irish potato famine.
The construction of the pottery commenced in 1858, and it included a railway line to the works, so coal could be delivered for the kilns.
The company commenced producing more...
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