Object Type
The plate was for eating stewed or fresh fruit during the dessert course of a grand meal. Dessert wares were often more elaborately decorated than ceramics for the savoury courses.

Materials & Making
The Chelsea porcelain factory announced the 'Mazarine' blue ground used here in 1756. Although this was described as 'inimitable' in an advertisement of 1761, it was itself an imitation, inspired by the dark gros bleu colour of the Royal French porcelain factory at Sèvres. The glaze used at Chelsea during the 1760s was frequently thick, as here, and is now often 'crazed' (riddled with fine cracks). The Chelsea porcelain body was not hard wearing and was best suited to light or ornamental use.

Trading
The Chelsea factory aimed for the top end of the market. It sold its wares from the factory site, from factory-run warehouses in the West End of London, through London ceramic dealers, and at auctions held in London, Dublin in Ireland, and probably elsewhere. A sale of Chelsea porcelain held in London in 1770 included several sets of 'Twelve fine desert plates, with gold ornament edges', which were sold for between £3 9s and £5 10s, and another set with enamelled and gilt borders, which reached £3 18s. In the mid-18th century shopkeepers and skilled craftsmen might earn around £1 a week.