Worcester Small Lobed Dish, Apple Green, Spotted Fruit James Giles, Ca 1770

This is a beautiful small deep plate made by Worcester in about 1770 in their First or the "Dr Wall" period. It is a small, lobed dish with a deep green ground, elegant tooled gilding and the famous "spotted fruit" decoration by the James Giles studio in London.

Worcester was one of the first potteries in Britain to create items in porcelain. Alongside other great potteries such as Derby, Chelsea and Bow, they pioneered a new industry that would grow out to be huge in the following century. This item is from the first period, which is often called the "Dr Wall" period after its founder. In later years Worcester went through many different ownerships and styles, and ultimately it became the Royal Worcester factory that only finished operation in the early 21st Century.

This beautiful dish has an overglaze deep green ground, which Worcester called "apple green", although today we would probably call it emerald green, in an unpredictable Rococo shape bordered with elegant slightly tooled gilt. The fruit painting in the centre was done in the famous studio of James Giles in London, and this style is called the "spotted fruit" style; you can see very realistic fruits such as grapes, peaches and even a blueberry, all slightly spotted and with some tiny fruit flies.

James Giles, who ran a large decorating studio in London, bought stock from Derby, Worcester and others, but also decorated for these factories. In 1771, Worcester terminated their contract with Giles, as their owner Dr Wall became increasingly nervous about Giles's success and his crossover with other factories. He knew this would leave Giles in a vulnerable position. As Giles was more of an artist than a salesman, he was forced to sell his stock in 1774 and in 1776 he closed due to bankruptcy. Most of his workers ended up being poached by the Derby and Worcester factories, considerably strengthening their won workforces.

An image of a trio in the same pattern can be found in plate 251 on page 219 from "Worcester Porcelain 1751-1790 The Zorensky Collection" by Simon Spero and John Sandon.

The plate is not marked, as is not uncommon for the period, but it has two old trader's labels: one with a slightly wrong dating (1760) and a US sale price ($750), the other an old BADA export label.

CONDITION REPORT The plate is in excellent antique condition without any damage, repairs, crazing and has some minor rubbing and knife scratches, as visible in the pictures.

Antique British porcelain is never perfect. Kilns were fired on coal in the 1700s, and this meant that china from that period can have some firing specks from flying particles. British makers were also known for their experimentation, and sometimes this resulted in technically imperfect results. Due to the shrinkage in the kiln, items can have small firing lines or develop crazing over time, which should not be seen as damage but as an imperfection of the maker's recipes, probably unknown at the time of making. Items have often been used for many years and can have normal signs of wear, and gilt can have signs of slight disintegration even if never handled. I will reflect any damage, repairs, obvious stress marks, crazing or heavy wear in the item description but some minor scratches, nicks, stains and gilt disintegration can be normal for vintage items and need to be taken into account.

There is widespread confusion on the internet about the difference between chips and nicks, or hairlines and cracks. I will reflect any damage as truthfully as I can, i.e. a nick is a tiny bit of damage smaller than 1mm and a chip is something you can easily see with the eye; a glazing line is a break in the glazing only; hairline is extremely tight and/or superficial and not picked up by the finger; and a crack is obvious both to the eye and the finger. Etcetera - I try to be as accurate as I can and please feel free to ask questions or request more detailed pictures!

DIMENSIONS (diameter) 18.8cm (7.4")

Condition report:

Good. Wear consistent with age and use. In excellent antique condition without any damage, repairs, crazing and has some minor rubbing and knife scratches.