'Gaiety' pattern plate, earthenware with underglaze printed decoration, manufactured by James Broadhurst & Sons Ltd., England, 1961-1965.

White earthenware tea plate, rimless with notched edge. Decorated with underglaze black printed pattern of repeating design of squares with hatched borders, and hand-coloured with green and yellow touches.

Nos. C.131 to 155-1992 form a group of ware selected from Susannah Walker's own collection to show a variety of popular "contemporary" designs in mass-produced tableware. She had collected these from car-boot sales, charity and bric-a-brac shops etc, rarely paying more than a few pence for each.

Plate is representative of the consumer demand for Contemporary tableware and consequent boom in the production of these goods in post-war Britiain. Bright simple decoration is a predictable reaction to the austerity of the wares enforced by government regulations until 1948. In order to speed up production, manufacturers used stencil patterns and air-brushing techniques. This decoration would most likely have only been used for tea sets: the loud colours and patterns would have been considered too strong for formal dining.
[Susan McCormack, 'British Design at Home', p.143]

C.145-1992