{"product_id":"wedgwood-patrician-plate-in-cream-earthenware-embossed-scrollwork-border-with-polychrome-flower-basket-and-hand-gilt-beaded-rim-c-1920-1940","title":"Wedgwood Patrician Plate in Cream Earthenware, Embossed Scrollwork Border with Polychrome Flower Basket and Hand-Gilt Beaded Rim, c. 1920–1940","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA cream Wedgwood plate whose border is moulded rather than printed, with a single painted basket of flowers at the centre.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe wide rim is \u003cstrong\u003eworked in relief\u003c\/strong\u003e — foliate scrollwork running in panels, with rosettes, shells and small blossoms standing up out of the surface. All of it is in the body colour. There is \u003cstrong\u003eno colour anywhere on the border\u003c\/strong\u003e; the pattern is entirely light and shadow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt the extreme edge runs a fine band of \u003cstrong\u003eblack and gold beading\u003c\/strong\u003e: a chain of small gilt balls set in scallops, laid on over the glaze.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe centre carries a \u003cstrong\u003epolychrome flower basket\u003c\/strong\u003e — a footed, gilt-banded basket filled with red and yellow anemones, purple and blue blossom, green leaves, grapes and cherries, with a sprig of red flowers spilling over the foot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnderneath: an \u003cstrong\u003eimpressed WEDGWOOD\u003c\/strong\u003e pressed into the clay, alongside a printed green factory mark and a painted code.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePatrician is a named Wedgwood shape, and on this plate the shape is the pattern.\u003c\/strong\u003e The border was cut into the mould, so the decoration is in the body of the plate rather than on it — it cannot wear off, cannot fade, and reads across a room as texture. A plate like this is fully decorated before anything is printed or painted on it at all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe impressed mark is one of the longest-running maker's marks in ceramics.\u003c\/strong\u003e Josiah Wedgwood began pressing WEDGWOOD into the underside of his ware as early as \u003cstrong\u003e1759\u003c\/strong\u003e, and it is still there, in the clay, on this plate made the better part of two centuries later. Very few marks in any trade have that continuity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe printed mark carries the date evidence.\u003c\/strong\u003e The word \u003cstrong\u003eENGLAND\u003c\/strong\u003e in a Wedgwood mark places a piece at \u003cstrong\u003e1891 or after\u003c\/strong\u003e, when country-of-origin marking became the rule for goods entering the American market. The fuller wording \u003cstrong\u003eMADE IN ENGLAND\u003c\/strong\u003e comes in \u003cstrong\u003eafter 1908\u003c\/strong\u003e, and progressively replaces the shorter form through the twentieth century.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe gold was laid on by hand, last of all.\u003c\/strong\u003e Look at the beaded chain: the gilding is full and bright down in the hollows between the beads and thin across the tops of them. That is how hand-applied gold wears — the high points rub against cloth, other plates and fingers first. Gold applied by a later mechanical process wears flat and evenly, and gold that is printed rather than laid on does not have the depth this has where it survives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe centre is a printed outline filled in with enamel colours over the glaze, which is why the flowers sit slightly proud of the surface and catch the light differently from the cream ground around them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDated on the Patrician shape, the impressed and printed marks, the hand-gilt beading and its pattern of wear, and the polychrome enamelling over the transfer: \u003cstrong\u003ec. 1920–1940\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"1\" cellpadding=\"8\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width:100%; border-collapse:collapse;\"\u003e\n  \u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eField\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eDetail\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\u003c\/thead\u003e\n  \u003ctbody\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eObject\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eWedgwood plate in the Patrician embossed shape. Approx. 10½ in across.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eOrigin\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eWedgwood, Staffordshire, England\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eForm\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eWide rim moulded in relief with foliate scrollwork in panels, rosettes and shells, all in the body colour; plain circular edge\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eDecoration\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003ePolychrome flower-basket centre — printed outline filled with over-glaze enamel colours — with a hand-applied black and gold beaded chain at the extreme rim\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMaterial\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eCream-bodied earthenware, glazed, with over-glaze enamel and gilding\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMarks\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eImpressed WEDGWOOD to the base, with a printed green factory mark and a painted code\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eEra\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003ec. 1920–1940. Dated on the Patrician shape, the impressed and printed marks, the hand-laid gilding and the way it has worn, and the over-glaze enamelling of the centre.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eVery good. Sound and flat with no chips, no cracks, no repairs and no restoration; the relief border is crisp throughout and the enamel colours in the centre are strong and unfaded. \u003cstrong\u003eExpect wear to the gilding at the rim\u003c\/strong\u003e, thinner across the tops of the beads than in the hollows, which is the normal and expected wear pattern for hand-applied gold. Light utensil marking in the well. Condition Guaranteed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eAvailability\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eOne of a Kind — 1 Available\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003c\/tbody\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA single good plate is a decorating object. It is only when you have eleven of them that it becomes a storage problem.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBought one at a time, a plate like this goes on a stand on a shelf, on a wall over a doorway, on a dresser leaned against the back, under a lamp, under a candlestick, or on a hall table taking keys. It asks for none of the commitment a service asks for, and it does considerably more visual work than most objects its size.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe relief border is the reason to choose this one. Printed patterns read as pattern; moulded ones read as texture, and texture survives distance and low light. Put this plate on a wall across a room and what you see is a ring of shadow and cream and one small bright bouquet at its centre — a composition, not a picture of flowers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt also mixes. Because the border carries no colour at all, the plate sits happily beside blue and white, beside plain white, beside brown transferware, and beside pieces from three other centuries. The gold at the edge is what ties it to anything brass or gilt in the room.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd it is a Wedgwood, marked in the clay. That is an unusually solid thing to be able to say about a plate on a shelf.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA note on care, and gold is the whole of it. \u003cstrong\u003eNever put this in a dishwasher.\u003c\/strong\u003e Detergent strips over-glaze gilding, and it does it in a handful of cycles rather than over years. Hand wash in warm water with a soft cloth and dry it immediately.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNever put it in a microwave.\u003c\/strong\u003e Metallic gold arcs, which will scar the plate and can damage the oven.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDo not scour the centre; the enamel colours sit on top of the glaze rather than under it and an abrasive pad will take them back. If you stack it with other plates, put felt or paper between them — the gilding at the rim is the first thing to go, and stacking is how it goes.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48046683717737,"sku":"VE-0726","price":98.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/D18B01B0-DC71-4B40-A307-D8C1443ECBE9.jpg?v=1789259062","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/wedgwood-patrician-plate-in-cream-earthenware-embossed-scrollwork-border-with-polychrome-flower-basket-and-hand-gilt-beaded-rim-c-1920-1940","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}