Sections & Banding

Brownhills Pottery Co., "Kioto," 1883.

The greatest influence on Aesthetic design was Edo period (1603-1868) ukiyo-e, or Japanese woodblock prints featuring images of the 'floating world.' The prints were characterized by flat perspective, strong shapes, and bold lines. Most significantly, these prints heavily featured compositional geometry.

Ukiyo-e artists like Torii Kiyonaga (1752-1815), Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806), Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), and Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) produced images that were heavily reliant on geometry. A popular category of ukiyo-e was indoor scenes. Focusing on people performing everyday activities, these images were dominated by the clean lines and geometric precision of Japanese architecture.

This emphasis on strong shapes, bold lines, and compositional geometry made its way into Aesthetic transferware designs. A number of designs have a composition that is broken up by linear shapes and banding, often featuring geometric designs, ornamentation, and miniature images related to the main scene.