Three Georgian Staffordshire Mandarin Pattern Blue and While Pearlware Plates, c. 1810

Three Mandarin pattern blue and white plates with a central willow tree leaning left over the water. A junk sails between two pavilions. The nankin or inner border below the shoulder of the plate is of a honeycomb type, with a trellis border and dagger bead, characteristic of Chinese wares around the rim.

The plates are unmarked. They have scratches commensurate with age, some pitting and pooling of the glaze.

The Mandarin pattern was one of the favourite patterns imported into Europe in the eighteenth century. The first English pottery to reproduce it as a transfer print was Caughley. Spode was probably the second and introduced the trellis border. These plates are by an unknown manufacturer. The stem of the willow tree is intertwined and the orange tree is taller with more, but smaller fruits. No birds fly in the sky. A similar plate is shown in plate 12, p. 49 in Robert Copeland’s book, “Spode’s Willow Pattern”.