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Plate
Close & Co. - Enlarge image
Plate
- Place of origin:
Stoke-on-Trent, England (made)
- Date:
1850-1864 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Close & Co. (manufacturer)
- Materials and Techniques:
Earthenware, transfer-printed in black enamel
- Credit Line:
Transferred from the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street
- Museum number:
2561-1901
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 125b, case 2
Object Type
This plate comes from a service specifically for fish, or from a larger service in which each set of plates was decorated with the food appropriate for a particular course. This is a comparatively inexpensive plate in earthenware, decorated by transfer-printing only, with no hand-colouring.
Design & Designing
This plate recalls the characteristic design used for char-pots, containers used for serving potted char (a Lake District trout), which were made of English delftware, pearlware or creamware and had the image of a fish modelled on the lid. Although this plate is from a comparatively little-known factory, the quality of print is sharp and accurate and the fish is clearly identifiable as a herring. The print was presumably taken from one of the many anthologies of natural history published during the mid- and late 19th century.
Time
Close & Co. of Church Street, Stoke-on-Trent, was apparently in operation for only a short period , from around 1855 to around 1864 or 1869. The owner was John Theophilus Close, who is also recorded as at Brook Street and High Street. Many 19th-century factories were short-lived as markets and fortunes fluctuated, and the names of many makers have been lost.
