This is a beautiful Spode bone china plate of double indented shape. It is hand painted in cobalt blue enamel with flowers & insects in the manner of 18th century Chantilly wares. The double indented shape was introduced at Spode c1809 & although this may prove to be a Spode pattern I suspect it is more likely to be a replacement piece for a service purchased c1770.
I had searched the internet looking for similar designs for sometime, looking at Chantilly, Caughley & Worcester pieces without success until recently & then bingo Moorabool have the answer to my question. See a very similar Chantilly plate which also has their distinctive moulded basketweave border for sale here:
Their plate is marked to its base & they provide Provenance: The Antique Porcelain Company, NYref. ‘Chantilly’ p 276 for a similar plate.
Although very simple in its design it is so charming.
Very much like buses, another piece of this pattern by Spode has just turned up; I have recently found that the National Trust at Tyntesfield, North Somerset has a matching Soup Plate. It can be found on-line in the National Trust Collection (as usual, it's not easy to find items in their database, they are frequently lacking accurate information or described incorrectly, there is no photograph of the base of the dish & it's not on display) but here is a link to it regardless: http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/25833
The Spode factory was always very willing to provide a replacement service for their customers & many of 'their' designs came into production as a result of this. Copyright laws, if they actually existed at this time, were very lax when it came to 'borrowed' ceramic decoration.
My favourite bit!
This Spode plate measures 10 inches or approximately 25 cms in diameter and is marked to its base with a blue enamel, hand painted 'SPODE'. You can see that the letter 'S' has serifs and this mark was used from c1812-1833 (the end of Spode ownership). Frequently when the name 'SPODE' appears hand painted on the back of a plate without a pattern number it is often an indication that this piece is a replacement piece.
I always like to retain previous collector's labels because they give me pleasure & provide provenance for an item. David Drakard (1920-2008) was a prolific collector, author, editor and lover of early ceramics and prints. He particularly loved Spode blue & white ceramics & prints.
David Drakard together with Paul Holdway compiled all the Spode prints into a book, 'Spode Printed Ware' in 1983. They up-dated this book and republished it as 'Spode Transfer Printed Ware 1784-1833' in 2002. It is a book which I use almost daily & is an invaluable resource.
David was editor of The English Ceramic Circle from 1990-1995 & became an Honorary Vice President. He was a member of the Northern Ceramic Society, a founding member of the Spode Society and acted as editor of the Spode Review from 1986-1989.