Plate set for Taylor and Madge Poore

Edgar Miller
1932
Glazed and enameled porcelain
Diameter: 28 cm

Miller's fondness for painting plates was well-known and became somewhat of a novelty amongst his friends and admirers. Birthdays, weddings, holidays– all special occasions demanded commemoration, and in the painted plate, Miller found a craft that was at once elegant and useful.

These six plates are perhaps the most elaborately designed examples of Miller’s decorated ceramics. They were commissioned by his friend Taylor Poore as a Christmas gift for his wife Madge. Taylor was a leading graphic designer of the era, and with his artistic wife, lived for some time at the Carl Street Studios in the 1930s, and commissioned Miller to produce additional embedded art for their unit through 1936. These plates continue a common motif of weasels that Miller also frequently depicted in painted work throughout the Studios.