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Bread plate

Bread plate

  • Place of origin:

    Fenton, England (made)

  • Date:

    1851 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Austen, Jesse, born 1806 - died 1879 (possibly, maker)
    F & R Pratt & Co (manufacturer)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Earthenware, transfer printed in colour

  • Credit Line:

    Given by HM Commissioners of the Great Exhibition of 1851

  • Museum number:

    C.629-1921

  • Gallery location:

    British Galleries, room 122g, case 2

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Object Type
This grand dish, described as a 'bread plate' but hardly meant for use, was made especially for the Great Exhibition of 1851 to demonstrate Pratt's superb polychrome printing technique. The printed scene shows Christ reproving the Pharisees for their criticism of the disciples' plucking and eating ears of corn on the Sabbath: '...I will have mercy and not sacrifice...' (Matthew XII.I.vii). A fully realistic image such as this gave Pratt the widest scope to show just how subtle and varied a range of colours and images he could reproduce.

Materials & Making
The firm of F. & R. Pratt was founded at Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent, in about 1774 by Felix and Richard Pratt, who specialised in enamel-painted figures in moulded earthenware. In 1828 Felix Edwards Pratt (1813-1894) joined the family firm, followed by his brother William. With his engraver and artist Jesse Austin (1806-1879) , F.E. Pratt devised a process of high-quality underglaze colour printing on pottery. Each oil colour was transferred from the copperplate to the ware by means of 'Pottery tissue', the final imprint being the outline of the picture. Four or five copperplates were employed. Glazing and firing the piece completed the process, which was known as the 'Austin process'.

Trading
F.E. Pratt took out a patent to improve the manufacture of pot lids in 1847. Makers of pomades or bear's grease (for dressing the hair), toilet creams, and meat and fish pastes soon adopted their pictorial containers. Pratt's also made tea and dessert services, jugs, vases and plaques. The company introduced unusual colours such as purple and a mottled malachite green, and they reproduced paintings by Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), William Mulready (1786-1863), Sir David Wilkie (1785-1841) and others, which they showed at international exhibition in Britain. They also exhibited American views at New York in 1853, the Philadelphia Centennial exhibition in 1876 and the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

Physical description

An earthenware bread plate printed in colours and gilt. The decoration consists of a scene of Christ in a corn field with other figures, an inscription around the rim enclosed by a wreath of wheat ears and a gilt border.

Place of Origin

Fenton, England (made)

Date

1851 (made)

Artist/maker

Austen, Jesse, born 1806 - died 1879 (possibly, maker)
F & R Pratt & Co (manufacturer)

Materials and Techniques

Earthenware, transfer printed in colour

Marks and inscriptions

'I WILL HAVE MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE. MATTHEW, CHAP. XII. VERSE I-VIII', enclosed by a wreath of wheat ears.
'J. Austen Sculp. 1851'
'H WARREN'
'F & R PRATT. &. CO FENTON/MANUFACTURERS TO H.R.H. PRINCE ALBERT', arranged in a circle around a crown, in brown.

Dimensions

Diameter: 33.7 cm, Height: 3.7 cm

Object history note

Designed by Jesse Austin (born in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, 1806, died in Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent, 1879) and H. Warren; made by F&R Pratt & Co., Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent

Historical significance: The bread plate was singled out as an example of inapropriate decoration in the 1853 catalogue of the Museum of Ornamental Art.

Descriptive line

Earthenware bread plate transfer printed in colour with a scene of Christ in a corn field and an inscription around the rim. British (Fenton, Staffordshire), mid 19th century. Manufactured by F. & R. Pratt.

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Department of Science and Art, A Catalogue of the Museum of Ornamental Art at Marlborough House, Pall Mall, 5th Edition, 1853, p.23.
'False Principles of Decoration', No. 86, 'Observations':
'A very good example of printing applied to the decoration of pottery, but the surface being wholly covered is objectionable and the religious picture, besides being very out of place in the centre of a bread plate, and the mottoes very inapposite to the intended use.'

Exhibition History

The Victoria and Albert Museum: Art and Design For All (Kunst und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn 18/11/2011-15/04/2012)
The Victoria and Albert Museum: Art and Design For All (Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest 14/06/2012-16/09/2012)

Labels and date

British Galleries:
Some of the objects selected by Henry Cole were presented as good examples of technique but with poorly chosen decoration. This plate was a good technical example of printing applied to pottery. However, the fact that the whole surface was covered with a picture was considered unsuitable for a bread plate, as was the religious subject matter. [27/03/2003]

Materials

Earthenware

Techniques

Transfer printing

Subjects depicted

Jesus

Categories

Ceramics; British Galleries; Food vessels & Tableware; Great Exhibition

Collection code

CER

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Qr_O8062
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