18 Jeweled Copeland Service Plates

COPELAND - Rare - museum quality - antique porcelain ornithological luncheon or dessert service - each plate and comport hand painted with three different specimens of birds against leafy branches - floral sprays to the center and border of each piece - alternating sections of cobalt blue with the finest quality gilding - each piece with fluted & scalloped edges - incredible attention to detail with the underside of the tall comports completely decorated - total of 18 pieces (12 plates - 2 tall comports - 4 short comports) - impressed letters & numbers - hand painted model number on each piece - 1/2642 - each piece with under glaze blue factory stamp - United Kingdon - circa 1851-95. Excellent antique condition - restored tall comport - a few minor edge chips - minor gilding loss - otherwise in fine antique form...

This is a stunning set of 8 reticulated plates made by Copeland in 1848. Each plate is decorated with a unique sublimely painted flower arrangement by the artist Greatbatch. We have a second set of 8 of these plates available, as well as a few separate ones; please see separate listings. The Copeland factory was the third iteration of the famous Spode factory, after the "Copeland & Garrett" period which transitioned into the "Copeland" period in about 1833. The Spode/Copeland factory was one of the most prominent potteries right from the start of English porcelain production in the late 1700s to the demise of the industry in the 1960s and ultimate closure in the early 21st Century. In fact it was the founder Josiah Spode who was responsible for the recipe for bone china that made English china production so successful in the two centuries to come. Throughout all the changes, their items have always remained of exceptionally high quality and many of the designs have become iconic. These plates were potted in fine white bone china, the rims meticulously reticulated in the "Gothic" shape. Reticulation was very time consuming and difficult, and just this detail would have made these plates expensive. The sublimely painted flower arrangements in the centre were done by Greatbatch, one of the well-known floral artists working for Copeland. Greatbatch was active between 1845 and 1860, and worked together with his brother R. Greatbatch, who was a talented gilder. They exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851. These plates would have belonged to a sublimely expensive dessert service. They are all stamped with the small blue Copeland mark with interlocking C's, and painted in red with the pattern number 7913, dating it at the year 1848. Documentation: A plate of this service is shown on page 80 of Steven Smith's "Spode & Copeland: Over Two Hundred Years of Fine China and Porcelain...