Scalloped rim charger 1881 - 1891

This scalloped rim charger was created by Coalport, a pottery manufacturer founded in Shropshire, England, sometime between 1794 and 1926. The piece employs painted enamel on porcelain. This plate embodies the aesthetic preferences of its time. The design, featuring birds, butterflies and vegetation, is highly ornamental and decorative. The intense green background, along with the gold detailing, evokes nature, luxury and elegance. The plate, as a luxury good, speaks to the rising affluence of the middle classes in England at the time. It reflects the new domestic culture of the 19th century, in which the tea and dinner service became a critical site for the performance of social status. To better understand this object, one might consider its place in the history of English porcelain and the broader context of design and decorative arts. Auction catalogs, design journals, and company records provide important information about the place of such objects in the social life of 19th century England.