Plate (part of a service) 1805 - 1835

This plate was made by Crown Derby, a company with origins dating back to 1750, as part of a larger service. Its central image is a hand-painted landscape featuring ruined gothic architecture. The overall effect is one of picturesque aestheticism. This was a style popular in Britain at the time. It romanticized the landscape by emphasizing its beauty and its history. The decoration—with its heavy use of gilding—reveals the cultural values of a society eager to display its wealth. Crown Derby and other potteries like Wedgwood and Spode produced these wares for Britain’s growing middle class. By studying surviving invoices, trade cards, and pattern books, we can understand how these pieces functioned within the social lives of those who owned them. They were not just tableware, but symbols of status and taste, reflecting the complex social and economic changes that were shaping British society.