Plate
ca. 1800 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Object Type
Typical of early-19th-century blue-printed tableware, this plate shows the distinctive dark inky blue which, along with the so-called 'Buffalo Pattern', was popular during the period 1800-1810.
Collecting
Blue-printed pottery rapidly became the standard tableware of Britain, taken for granted by subsequent generations of users and completely ignored by collectors. With the publication of W.L. Little's Staffordshire Blue in 1969, however, the craze for collecting, and for naming and analysing patterns, really began. It is extremely unlikely that the engravers of this Buffalo Pattern would have known that the painted Chinese version was supposed to be a depiction of the philosopher Lao-Tzu, the founder of Taoism who lived in the 6th century BC, and quite certain that the users of such printed tableware regarded it simply as exotic decoration.
Typical of early-19th-century blue-printed tableware, this plate shows the distinctive dark inky blue which, along with the so-called 'Buffalo Pattern', was popular during the period 1800-1810.
Collecting
Blue-printed pottery rapidly became the standard tableware of Britain, taken for granted by subsequent generations of users and completely ignored by collectors. With the publication of W.L. Little's Staffordshire Blue in 1969, however, the craze for collecting, and for naming and analysing patterns, really began. It is extremely unlikely that the engravers of this Buffalo Pattern would have known that the painted Chinese version was supposed to be a depiction of the philosopher Lao-Tzu, the founder of Taoism who lived in the 6th century BC, and quite certain that the users of such printed tableware regarded it simply as exotic decoration.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Earthenware, transfer-printed in underglaze blue |
| Brief description | Plate, lead-glazed erthenware, transfer-printed, probably made by the Spode factory, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, c.1800 |
| Dimensions |
|
| Gallery label | British Galleries:
This pattern was one of the earliest designs to become popular in Britain from the late 18th century. It is a direct copy from Chinese export plates or dishes said to depict the Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu. Variants of this pattern were made by a number of British firms from the 1780s.(27/03/2003) |
| Credit line | Bequeathed by J. H. Jacobs |
| Object history | Probably made in Staffordshire |
| Summary | Object Type Typical of early-19th-century blue-printed tableware, this plate shows the distinctive dark inky blue which, along with the so-called 'Buffalo Pattern', was popular during the period 1800-1810. Collecting Blue-printed pottery rapidly became the standard tableware of Britain, taken for granted by subsequent generations of users and completely ignored by collectors. With the publication of W.L. Little's Staffordshire Blue in 1969, however, the craze for collecting, and for naming and analysing patterns, really began. It is extremely unlikely that the engravers of this Buffalo Pattern would have known that the painted Chinese version was supposed to be a depiction of the philosopher Lao-Tzu, the founder of Taoism who lived in the 6th century BC, and quite certain that the users of such printed tableware regarded it simply as exotic decoration. |
| Bibliographic reference | Buffalo, one of the earliest Chinoiserie patterns, was made by several different potteries in the late 18th century. Its popularity continued for about 50 years. The variations in the pattern, labeled A-E have been analyzed by Copeland (Chapter 11) and Broughton (pp. 87-90). This Spode marked Buffalo is Type A. The mark is Copeland's mark 2a (See Copeland1997, p. 40). Type A is also found with IH mark. Spode produced Type A and Type B (also recorded in this database), and Cambrian Type D (Tanner2005, pp. 132-37). Many examples are unmarked. Other examples of the Buffalo pattern are also recorded in this database. For more information about the Buffalo pattern see Loren Zeller's article "Animals on Printed Pots", in Zeller2013, pp. 97-106.
Transfereware Collectors Club 2017 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | CIRC.371-1950 |
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| Record created | March 27, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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