Sweetmeat or pickle tray, of hard-paste porcelain painted in underglaze blue of dark greyish tone, with a wavy outline on the outer circumference, made by Plymouth Porcelain Factory, Plymouth, ca. 1770

Sweetmeat or pickle tray of hard-paste porcelain painted in underglaze blue of dark greyish tone, with a wavy outline on the outer circumference and with high sides sloping outwards from a flat base; painted round the top outside with a narrow border, and painted externally with sprays of flowers

Given by Lady Charlotte Schreiber

Part of a set of seven trays, three spoons and a wooden stand 414:715/ to J-1885 (Sch. I 691 to J)
These pieces were purchased by Lady Charlotte Schreiber from the following: Mrs R. Fox, Exeter, for 41 shillings in December 1868 (4 trays); from Mr C. Prideaux, Knightsbridge, for 6 shillings in November 1868 (3 trays); from Mrs Tregellis, Knightsbridge, and Mr Edkins, Bristol, both for 5 shillings in December 1869 [?] (spoons); and from Chance, London, for 10 shillings 6 pence in April 1874 (the wooden tray)

These seven porcelain dishes did not survive together as a set, but were bought by Lady Charlotte Schreiber from two descendents of William Cookworth, the founder of the Plymouth factory. The set would presumably originally have comprised six fan shaped dishes and one hexagonal one, as in the Bristol porcelain set 414:751-1885 (Sch.I.741). Loosely similar sets, with four shaped dishes around a central one, are shown in Wedgwood's creamware catalogue of 1773 and in the Don Pottery catalogue of 1808, where they are described as 'for Pickles of different kinds' and 'Pickle trays furnished' respectively. These Plymouth porcelain dishes were catalogued by Lady Charlotte Schreiber in 1885, and by Bernard Rackham in the 1910s and 1920s, as being for the dessert, but they may well have been intended for pickles. The three spoons are Chinese, and were brought together with the dishes by Lady Charlotte Schreiber, who believed them to be of Plymouth porcelain.

414:715/C-1885