Serving Dish, Pagoda and Palms Variation

Item Number: D44
Shape Type: Serving Dish, Large
Pattern Name: Pagoda and Palms Variation
Date: c. 1810-1820
Dimensions:   D16.5″
Maker: Unknown
Maker’s Mark: Unmarked
Description:
A large pearlware serving dish, 16.75″ inches in diameter. It is unmarked. The pattern, printed in blue underglaze, is a variation of Pagoda and Palms and is also known as Gossiping Women.  Printed in the center are the words “KINGS ARMS, PALACE YARD”.  The King’s Arms Tavern and Inn was located on the west side of the Square in Westminster, London. It served as the meeting place for the Freemasons from as early as 1771.   The inn is well documented because of the role it played in public as well as in private events. Both versions of the pattern are believed to be forerunners of the “Dillwyn Willow” pattern developed by Burgess & Leigh in the 1920s. For more information regarding this relationship search for  “Pagoda and Palms” pattern in the TCC Pattern Database. This item was featured in Extraordinary British Transferware, 1780-1840, by R & R Halliday, p. 271, Schiffer Publishing Ltd, 2012, and in Chinoiserie: Printed British Ceramics in the Chinese Style, 1750-1900, by Richard Halliday and Loren L. Zeller, Gomer Press, 2018.
Condition: Very Good. No restoration. One 2″ hairline to the back rim of the dish. This hairline appears to be in the glaze only and does not go through to the front of the plate.