Spode earthenware Dessert Plate measuring 8.25 inches or 21 cms in diameter and decorated with the blue transfer print P616 'Buffalo' or 'Boy on a Buffalo' copied from an 18th century Chinese Export porcelain original.
During the decade which spanned from 1790 to 1800 there were great changes in the type & quantities of goods imported from the Far East. Much less Chinese Export porcelain arrived & much more tea arrived in its place (I have read that the UK Government increased taxation on the import of Chinese porcelain by 150% in 1800). This had the effect of making the highly desirable porcelain even more scarce whilst at the same time creating a much larger potential market in respect of tea wares.
These circumstances created a tremendous opportunity for British manufacturers of ceramics to fill the growing void. Families which had purchased Dinner, Dessert, Tea/Coffee Services in Chinese Export porcelain frequently required either replacement pieces for broken items or additions as their families/wealth increased.
Thomas Turner at Caughley was the first to seize the opportunity and he reproduced five or six popular Chinese designs on porcelain. The next potter was Josiah Spode I who is known to have copied faithfully at least twenty-two Chinese originals (more than any other UK manufacturer). Josiah Spode I had developed the art of underglaze printing in cobalt blue enamel from as early as 1784 & so he had a huge advantage over his competitors.
This Spode pattern was one of half a dozen or so of his earliest Chinese copies & was continued for many years; this particular version dates somewhere between 1815-33 from the impressed mark on its base, probably around c1822.
This was a very popular pattern which several other manufacturers produced and as you can imagine there are many subtle variations between them. The Chinese originals were all hand-painted and so there would have been many differences in design prior to the English manufacturers also producing their versions. Popular designs would be re-engraved for different shaped articles as they became required. Thus, at the Spode factory there are seventeen copper engravings of this pattern in the museum collection and the print record book notes that 30 engravings were destroyed in 1873 (& all engravers produced slightly different designs, no matter how hard they tried to follow the factory pattern there are always slight differences).
To complicate matters further, as the demand for blue printed tablewares grew, not only would ceramic factory owners employ engravers in-house, they would also use the services of specialist engraving businesses, which explains why many of the patterns can be identified, either by shape, style or when marked on the back of the wares, to several different manufacturers.
Lastly, because this is a very early pattern & many of the examples that have survived were never marked to their bases with any sort of manufacturer's marks, actually pinpointing a manufacturer's production with complete accuracy is extremely difficult prior to 1800.
Robert Copeland has carefully studied the many variations of this pattern in his book, 'Spode's Willow Pattern & other designs after the Chinese', & has placed his findings into distinct groups. I would thoroughly recommend reading this work and comparing the many illustrations provided within it.
You can see a plate like this one in the V & A Collection at this address: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O78061/plate-spode-ceramic-works/
They mention, 'It is extremely unlikely that the engravers of this Buffalo Pattern would have known that the painted Chinese version was supposed to be a depiction of the philosopher Lao-Tzu, the founder of Taoism who lived in the 6th century BC'.
Leonard Whiter's book on 'Spode, a History of the Family, Factory & Wares from 1733 to 1833' mentions an account by Simeon Shaw which states, 'on the expiration of his apprenticeship, Thomas Minton continued to be employed for a time at the Caughley China Works under Mr Turner, and then removed to London, where he engraved some patterns for Josiah Spode. From London, having married, he removed into Staffordshire, in 1788 or 1789, where the rapidly increasing demand for blue printed earthenware gave promise of a good opening for so skilful a draughtsman and engraver as he had become... Here he became very successful, one of his chief employers being Josiah Spode, for whom he engraved a tea-ware pattern called the 'Buffalo'.
Simeon Ackroyd Shaw (1785-1859) was a 19th century English scientific writer, industrial historian and teacher. He spent his working life in the Staffordshire Potteries, now the city of Stoke-on-Trent, England.
As mentioned above, this particular Spode plate decorated with 'Boy on a Buffalo' was produced much later than most pieces encountered with this pattern & so it is marked with an impressed 'SPODE' & '17' which is unusual. Notice the serifs on the capital 'S' of 'SPODE', this impressed mark was used between 1815-1833 (the end of the Spode period).