Spode's pattern 2789

Dessert plates, bone china, pattern 2789 c1819

Knowing my interest in botanical subjects on early 19th century Spode wares, a correspondent kindly told me about two square dessert plates which were up for sale online*.

These bone china plates from Spode were once part of a large dessert service, made for use, not simply for display. In the early 19th century Spode dessert wares were particularly fine; produced in the most expensive, fashionable styles; and sold to the wealthiest of customers.**

Pattern 2789 was first recorded in about 1819. It has a border design of mainly cobalt blue and gold - a combination of 2 of the most expensive materials for decoration - with a touch of red. The centres are handpainted with a pair of botanical subjects. Every piece of the service would have had a different pairing of flowers making for an amazing sight when laid out together with all its matching serving pieces.

Backstamp on the convolulus plate  - note the form of the figure 8 in the pattern number 2789

My original correspondent wondered if the flower subjects were taken from Curtis's Botanical Magazine which I have studied over the years, matching the magazine illustrations to Spode patterns. When I started doing this research at the end of the 1990s I used the original 18th century Curtis's Botanical Magazines, which are in fact books, in the Spode archive.

A volume of Curtis's Botanical Magazine 1780s

It was painstaking work, carefully turning pages, lifting the tissue covering the print to see if a flower matched a Spode piece. Many years on these magazines are now online. Hoorah! I use the fantastic Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) digitisations here. You can follow BHL on Twitter @BioDivLibrary.

It is still painstaking work but much quicker and much easier to share. A simple botanical subject on a Spode piece is fairly straightforward to find. You can see this in the example of the daffodil or, as Curtis describes it, 'Narcissus Major or Great Daffodil'. Here the Spode design of about 1808 is a direct copy of the magazine illustration of 1788.

Curtis's Botanical Magazine, Vol 2 plate 51, printed and hand coloured 1788

Spode dessert plate, bone china, pattern 1100 handpainted centre with gilded border c1808

Dessert plate, pattern 2789, Tagetes and Bluebell

Curtis's Botanical Magazine Vol 5 plate 150, 1791

Dessert plate, Tagetes and Bluebell (detail)

I spent a long time looking at the illustrations in Curtis's Botanical Magazine online to see if I could find matching subjects for these 2 dessert plates but was only partly successful. I looked through the first 12 volumes and found a Tagetes, described by Curtis as 'Tagetes Patula. Spreading Tagetes, or French Marigold', which could be the source of one of the flowers but did not find the bluebell it is paired with.

Dessert plate, pattern 2789, Convolvulus and probably Delphinium

Curtis's Botanical Magazine Vol 6 plate 188, 1792

Dessert plate Convolvulus and Delphinium (?) (detail)

I confess I was rather relived there were only 2 plates to research, not a whole service of dozens of pieces...

Teawares were also produced in this pattern again with each piece having a pair of flower subjects. The flowers are as you would expect on the saucers but for the coffee cup and teacup the design is adapted so a flower appears on the outside of the cup - one on each side.

L-R: Coffee cup, saucer and teacup, pattern 2789

Saucer, pattern 2789

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*With thanks to Jayo Emms Antiques England for the images of the 2 dessert plates which inspired the blogpost.

**For more about dessert wares from Spode on this blog please use the Search box/page and enter dessert.