Small Dish, stone china, John & William Ridgway, c.1820-5

This small stone china dish is printed in blue with the Ridgway India Temple pattern. This item bears the printed shield-shaped cartouche mark 'STONE CHINA', and the initials J.W.R.

The scene is of a Chinese river or harbour with junks and a temple, and the dish would have formed part of a dinner service with a gadrooned or pie crust edge. The decorative moulded rose of the handle is particularly fine.

Godden regards such small handled-dishes as being a 'rare component to a large blue-printed dinner service', and a similar example is illustrated in Ridgway Porcelains. A great deal of the Ridgway blue printed earthenware was exported to North America, but marked examples are rare in the UK.

Condition: Good - no cracks or restoration. The copper plate engraved decoration is very neatly printed and the blue is a lovely soft shade. Interestingly, bubbles gathered in the moulded ridges around the decorative edge during firing. There is a minute indentation in the footrim, although this could date from the time of manufacture. This is altogether an attractive piece and would enhance any collection of early nineteenth-century English printed earthenware.

Dimensions: Length 5 3/4" (14.6cm)

Ridgway Porcelains, Geoffrey A. Godden (Antique Collectors' Club, 1985).

The Dictionary of Blue & White Printed Pottery 1780-1880, A.W. Coysh & R.K. Henrywood (Antique Collectors' Club, 2001).