Chinese Porcelain Garden Seat

Wanda Rawson Matthes, owner of Antiques From Triology located within Snider Plaza Antiques, offers one of the largest collections of high quality English and Continental Majolica in the Southwest. Co-President of the Majolica International Society with her husband Duane, Wanda is a recognized authority on this collectible classic and works closely with both designers and collectors to find the perfect pieces for their needs. 

In addition, Wanda maintains a great selection of 19th century French and Portuguese Palissy Ware, named for the French Renaissance potter Bernard Palissy who lived from 1510 to 1590. This distinctive type of polychrome earthenware utilizes three dimensional naturalistic scenes of aquatic plants and animals such as snakes, fish, lizards and frogs which were cast from life and painted by hand in a somber earth-tone color palette referred to as “rustique” by its originator. 

“Collectors have been fascinated by the many shapes, colors and decorative styles of majolica since its introduction in England in the 1850’s,” Wanda said, “and people never fail to ask me the difference between Palissy and majolica. In a nutshell, all Palissy is majolica, but not all majolica is Palissy. While snakes, lizards and frogs may not be everyone’s cup of tea, Palissy collectors are very passionate about these distinctive ceramics. They love the many variations of nature realistically depicted in these pieces.”

Wanda makes several buying trips to the East Coast each year to bring back the finest majolica on the market for her loyal clientele and networks with fellow members of the Majolica International Society to locate particularly hard-to-find items. Drop by soon to view the latest arrivals!