Wedgwood Fairyland Lustre ‘Dragon’ Bowl, Pattern Z4829, circa 1920

A Wedgwood Fairyland Lustre circular bowl decorated with gilded dragons, pattern no. Z4829, designed by Daisy Makeig-Jones. Two ‘rain dragons‘ chase flames around the mottled blue exterior. The interior is in a turquoise pearl lustre with a gilt border and a ‘cruel dragon‘ at its centre. It is marked with the gilt Portland vase, the pattern number and a painted number 4.

There is hairline crack and a tiny touch up of the gilt on the rim that is very hard to see with the naked eye.

The Fairyland world at Wedgwood sprang from the imagination of one designer, Daisy Makeig-Jones (1881-1945), who joined the firm in 1910, quickly rose through the ranks, and continued on the staff until 1931. Attracted to the fanciful, she began designing her signature Fairyland Lustre war in 1915, a year after the war in Europe started. The line proved immensely popular across the Atlantic during the Roaring 20s until the Great Depression, when it was discontinued in 1929.