A divine celebration
- willa
- Oct 17
- 3 min read
How stunning are these flowers??
This wonderful dish was made by Derby around 1814 and painted by William “Quaker” Pegg, one of the greatest porcelain flower painters of all time. I am so thrilled to be able to offer a piece of his work, which is rare due to his small output.
Pegg’s flowers are large, naturalistic and exuberant. Their extraordinary character did not come by accident; he was a truly unusual and remarkable artist and to him, flowers were not just flowers.
Pegg was apprenticed as a youngster to the Derby factory in 1796, the year of the famous William Billingsley’s departure. Surrounded by artists painting exquisite flowers in the Billingsley tradition, he quickly developed a passion for floral painting. Gifted with exceptional talent, he took that tradition to an entirely new place.
A thoughtful and sensitive man, Pegg became a Quaker, that is a member of a Protestant Christian denomination celebrating direct experience of the divine and teaching that God dwells within everyone. He adopted a life of simplicity, peace, and truth. In 1801, taking his faith so seriously that he feared his art might distract him from it, he gave up painting altogether, burned his sketchbooks, and turned to making humble stockings at home. Oh, how we wish we could see today the beautiful books he destroyed so many years ago!
But Pegg’s talent was too great to be silenced forever. After twelve years of simple living without his beloved art, he returned to painting flowers, and thankfully, the sketchbooks from this second period still survive. It was during this time that he painted this dish, and that he earned his affectionate nickname “Quaker”.
Pegg’s almost abstract style was far ahead of his time. His flowers are draped over the porcelain as if the universe itself weren't large enough to hold them. There is a wild, sensual quality to his work; he celebrated God’s creation through his flowers. One Whitsun holiday he went for a walk on Nun's Green and sketched a thistle. He showed it to his mother, who found it incomprehensible, so strange did it appear to her.
But when the Derby factory managers saw this same sketch, they recognised its brilliance and gave him a dish to paint it on. That dish became the famous “thistle dish”, used as a ‘prentice plate’ for many years; each new apprentice to copy it as part of their training. You can see the sketch and the dish here.
In those two years that Pegg returned to the Derby factory, his appearance caused some amusement among his colleagues: with his thick beard and unfashionable clothes, they teased him that he couldn’t afford a barber and nicknamed him “Quaker”. The truth was that, although he had been living in poverty, he just didn’t care about his looks and he defiantly painted a wonderful, strange-looking self portrait in his sketchbook.
In the years that followed, Pegg poured himself into painting his ecstatic flowers, celebrating God through the beauty that can be found in any English garden. For him, painting was a deeply spiritual, almost painful act. He wrote in his diary of his new sketchbook: “I had once burnt all my drawings and drawing books. Thus I built up that which I had once destroyed; but this I suffered for.”
Eventually, Pegg returned to a stricter interpretation of his faith and gave up painting once more. Together with his wife he opened a corner shop selling groceries, but also helping the poor in his community. Today, William “Quaker” Pegg’s paintings are rare and precious, and they will forever express the glory of God as seen through the eyes of this good and humble soul.
This dish is painted with bright scarlet lychnis and fresh blue gentians - and he wrote the flower names on the back of the dish.
Where to find stock
You can find all my serving dishes here, and all my available items here. If you want to stay up to date with new additions, find me on Instagram, where I put up pictures with a story several times a week.
Happy weekend, and celebrate the goodness of life with beauty!
This week's new treasures:
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