I do not usually buy ceramics/pottery but recently I picked up a couple of pieces; one for ornamental use and the other for interest only.

The ornamental one, now sits on a corner wash stand I have in our spare room. This piece is of course meant to sit on this piece of furniture. It is a large wash basin. I do not yet have a pitcher. The basin on the outside is plain white, no decoration at all but on the inside is a blue floral pattern culminating in a central figure of a floral bouquet in a vase.

There are no cracks or chips, so a piece in wonderful condition. The date marks on the underside read as 1876. #Copeland was associated with #Spode which is a world renowned ceramics and porcelain company. Josiah Spode had established a porcelain company at Stoke-on-Trent in 1770. This company was bought by William Copeland in 1833.

The second piece we look at is not in perfect condition. It is cracked and has a chip – more noticeable from the bottom than the top. This piece was made by a porcelain factory set up by #JamesMacIntyre in Burselm, Stoke-on-Trent. Most people will not recognise the name but #MacIntyre produced very fine porcelain. In 1897, MacIntyre employed a young man by name of #WilliamMoorcroft, who within one year of working was put in charge of the companies art pottery studio as Chief Designer. Moorcroft left MacIntyre in 1913 to set up his own manufacturing company. This is the Moorcroft most people know.

The trivet is not in perfect shape. It has been well loved. It possibly was part of a set of maybe just a loved single piece. It is not signed by Moorcroft as a number of his designs were. Moorcroft’s penchant for producing very beautiful and creative pieces meant they were also expensive to buy. So, I’m happy with this well loved piece just to remind me of the exceptional talent Moorcroft was.