Wedgwood’s “April” Plate Puzzle

Wedgwood’s “April” Plate PuzzleThis month’s free online puzzle features Wedgwood’s month plate "April," made ca. 1880. The April center is paired with Wedgwood's "Ivanhoe" border. The month patterns were originally made for tiles but proved so popular that Wedgwood (1759-2005) adapted them for plates. This series with each tile depicting a month of the year was designed by Helen Miles, a designer, painter and illustrator who designed several series of tiles for Wedgwood in the 1870s. A document in the Wedgwood archives records that the series of months was registered in March 1878. An 8-inch square version of the tiles was also produced with the addition of a one-inch-wide outer border.

For the plates, Wedgwood paired the tile engravings with borders already in use.  Here, the "Ivanhoe" border was used. The border is more often found with centers that depict scenes from the Sir Walter Scott story of "Ivanhoe." Most of the 12 months are recorded in the TCC Database including 8-inch tile and dinnerware examples.