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Spode Factory

One of pair; Plate with molded gadroon edge; on reverse: "SPODE/ FELDSPAR/ PORCELAIN/ THE LONDON"; Central arms of East India Company surmounted by crest. Two gold lion supporters stand on green plinth above a banderole inscribed "AUSPICIO REGIS ET SENATUS ANGLIAE," holding East India Company banners. Inner gold band. Three floral sprays in relief, detailed in gold. Outer gadroon border. This plate is similar to those which replaced a service of 1300 pieces that was destroyed when the East India Company warehouse in Guangzhou burned in 1823. The inscription “The London” on the reverse of each plate suggests that they were possibly ordered by Captain John Barnet Sotherby, who sailed a ship of that name from England to Guangzhou in March of 1824, possibly with the East India Company service. The Liebman plates may have been for his personal use aboard ship. The manufacture of these plates in England rather than in China shows not only the decline in trade between the two countries, but the ability of the Spode factory to reproduce at a competitive price patterns that had previously been manufactured in Guangzhou. The body of the feldspar porcelain is white and translucent, qualities which had been sought by Staffordshire potters throughout the eighteenth century in imitation of true Chinese porcelain.
Artist
Spode Factory
(English, founded 1770)
Title
Plate
Date
ca. 1824
Medium
Porcelain
Dimensions
diam: 9 1/8 in. overall
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John C. Cleaver
Accession No.
1975.177a
Classification
Ceramics
Geography
England

Related

by 1973, Ethel Liebman [mother] and Arthur Liebman [son] (Milwaukee, WI); 1973, Arthur Liebman (Milwaukee, WI) sold to Mr. and Mrs. John C. Cleaver (Milwaukee, WI); September 1973, Mr. and Mrs. John C. Cleaver deposited on long-term loan to the Elvehjem Art Center [now called Chazen Museum of Art]; 1975, gifted to Elvehjem Art Center [now called Chazen Museum of Art]

  • Brawer, Catherine Coleman. "Chinese Export Porcelain." Madison, Wis.: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 1992. p. 20, no. 2
  • Elvehjem Art Center. "Rare Porcelain, European and Oriental Export." Madison, WI: Elvehjem Art Center, 1974. XV, no. 20

  • Chinese Export Porcelain from the Ethel and Arthur Liebman Collection: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 10/21/1979–1/6/1980
  • Rare Porcelain: European and Oriental Export: Elvehjem Art Center, 6/3/1974–8/11/1974

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