Mansfield Plate, Monochrome Sepia Ranunculus by W. Billingsley, 1799-1802 (2)

This is one of a pair of beautiful plates made by William Billingsley at the Mansfield Pottery, between 1799 and 1802. The plates, manufactured by Coalport, have a pleasing slightly diapered shape. They were decorated with beautiful monochrome sepia flowers and a simple gilt rim by William Billingsley. Please see separate listing for the matching plate; I would be happy to offer some discount if you interested in purchasing both plates. William Billingsley was a brilliant but notoriously difficult man who left behind a trail of debts, broken hearts and mystery - but he was also one of the most important people in the history British porcelain. Billingsley revolutionised the way British decorators painted flowers; he added a freedom and artistry that now singles out British flower painting, and he created a new technique for painting roses, which you can see in this design. Billingsley trained and worked at Derby, and then started his own pottery at Pinxton. He then left to start a decorating studio at Mansfield, where he decorated wares from various potteries, among which Derby, Coalport, Whitehead and others. After that, he spent a period in Worcester, and then went to Wales where he set up a pottery in Nantgarw, worked at the Swansea pottery for a while and then returned to Nantgarw. While in Nantgarw he created some of the best porcelain ever made, but racking up great debts. He ended up running off in the dead of night and ending his days at Coalport painting flowers. Items painted by William Billingsley are rare and very much in demand - together with Thomas Baxter's work they are probably among the most desired pieces of British porcelain. The plate is marked with an impressed 7, the number associated with Billingsley. The attribution of this plate to William Billingsley is due to the fact that he painted nearly identical flowers on a Coalport jug...

This is a beautiful one-handled dessert serving dish or "shell" dish made by Derby between about 1820 and 1825 in the Regency era and decorated by Moses Webster. These dishes were to...

This is a good, late Georgian, ironstone dinner plate, hand decorated in pattern no. 15, manufactured by the English Davenport factory, which was situated in Longport, Staffordshire, England between 1794 and 1887. The oriental garden "Imari" pattern is transfer printed in cobalt blue of different shades, then all hand coloured with different enamels in good detail. The pattern is called "Bamboo and...

22121706 Swansea Porcelain Dessert Plate By Henry Morris, c1816 Additional information: Date : 1815-1817 Period : George III Marks : none Origin : Swansea, South Wales Colour : poly...