Coalport Dessert Service, Floral Studies by Cecil Jones, circa 1820

This is a stunning and extremely rare dessert service made by John Rose at Coalport probably around the year 1800, shortly after Rose bought up the Caughley factory. It consists of a large centre piece comport, one sauce tureen with cover, two oval dishes, two square dishes, two shell dishes, and eight plates. The service is beautifully decorated in the Neoclassical style. Coalport was one of the leading potters in 19th and 20th Century Staffordshire. They worked alongside other great potters such as Spode, Davenport and Minton, and came out with many innovative designs. When we say "Coalport" we usually think of the one Coalport factory that became famous, but in its beginning years there were two factories, one run by John Rose and the other by his brother Thomas Rose. Thomas Rose went into partnership with Robert Anstice and Robert Horton and they were located directly opposite John Rose, across the canal. John Rose had bought up the local Caughley factory in 1799. The brothers' factories had much in common with each other and they shared many different shapes and patterns. Ultimately, the John Rose factory proved more profitable and John Rose bought Thomas' factory in 1814, making it the one Coalport factory that became so famous. Many of the Coalport items, of either factory, are now collectors' items. This service is made of pearlware, which leads us to believe that it might have been made at the old Caughley premises, which had kilns for pearlware - the later Coalport items are not known to be made of pearlware but the shape of the dishes and the sauce comport are clearly a Coalport shape. All items have a beautiful deep orange ground - they were done in different firings as the colour is not entirely consistent, which makes the service very charming. The rims are set off with a beautiful vine pattern in silver, which makes the service even more rare as this was not done often. The items are unmarked, as is usual for that era, except the odd "B", which is probably the gilder's tally mark. CONDITION REPORT The service is in good usable condition with some minor flaws: there is some crazing and wear throughout, which is to be expected of pearlware of this era. The centre piece comport has a slight crack through the side, which is not very visible. One of the plates has a chip on the front of the rim as well as three lines coming off the rim; one has a chip on the underside of the rim; and one has a line coming off the rim. Neither of these stand out and the plates are entirely stable. Antique British china...

This beautiful plate was made by Coalport in about 1840 and would have belonged to large dessert service with the pattern 4/412, which we know has been done in many different colours...