Basket Stand, Two Figures II

Item Number: D41
Shape Type: Basket Stand,
Pattern Name: Two Figures II
Date: c. 1785-1795
Dimensions:   L 11″, W 8.5″
Maker: Spode
Maker’s Mark: Impressed SPODEDescription:
This molded oval, pierced pearlware stand is line engraved and printed in blue underglaze with an early version of Spode’s “Two Figures II” pattern. It likely served as the stand for a chestnut or fruit basket. It is a very early example of Spode pearlware and of this pattern. This stand is the actual piece illustrated in Robert Copeland’s Spode Willow Pattern and Other Designs after the Chinese –see page 68, plate 6– and may have been made during Josiah Spode I’s lifetime and is one of the very first SPODE-marked blue-printed pieces. Provenance: the Pulver Collection. It had been on loan from the Pulver Collection for 35 years to the Spode Museum until the museum closed in 2008 and bears the corresponding accession stickers. Some of the stickers on the back of the plate reference “WTC” and indicate the provenance as being the collection of William Taylor Copeland, the most famous member of that talented family who became Lord Mayor of London and a member of the British Parliament in the 1830’s. This pattern is in the TCC Pattern Database.
Condition: Very Good. Some discoloration to the back of the stand. No restoration.