This is a stunning and very rare set of ten dessert plates made by Derby in about 1825, which was the Regency era. The plates are richly gilded, each with an individual gilt pattern, and have superb fruit paintings, also each unique, by the famous porcelain decorator Thomas Steel.
 
The Derby factory, later reshaped into Royal Crown Derby, is currently the oldest British porcelain factory still in production. Derby was one of the most prominent potteries right from the start of English porcelain production in the mid 1700s to today. Their items are of exceptionally high quality and many of the designs have become iconic, particularly the Imari designs; many of these are still being made today. Derby made many exciting designs in the Regency era, and these plates are beautiful examples. The marking at the bottom indicates that the plates were produced some time between 1806 and 1825, when the company was called "Bloor Derby"; however the style is from between 1820 and 1825.
 
Thomas Steel (sometimes written as Steele) is considered the very best 19th Century porcelain painter of fruits. He was born in Staffordshire in 1772 and was first apprenticed by Wedgwood. He moved to Derby in 1815, where he became the foremost flower and fruit painter. In 1825 he moved on to the Rockingham factory in Yorkshire, and a few years later to Minton in Staffordshire, where he worked the rest of his life.
 
Steel had a very recognisable style of fruit painting, perhaps best described by the biographer John Haslem: 
 
"Steele painted both flowers and insects well, but as a painter of fruit on china he had no superior, if, indeed, he had any equal in his day... His grouping is harmonious, the light and shade well managed, each piece of fruit is well rounded, and the outline softened and blended into the one next to it, each partaking of the reflected colour from the other."
 
These plates each have a different richly gilded border, and octagonal paintings in the centre with an overflowing basket of fruits placed on a shelf. There are grapes, peaches, plums, apples, strawberries and just about any other fruit that one can find in Britain. The colours are rich and fresh and have the typical delicate colouring of Steel with sage green and deep purple accents.
 
The plates are marked with the printed and crowned round red Bloor Derby mark that was used between 1820 and 1840, and labels from the Twinight Collection.
 
PROVENANCE: Twinight Collection
 
CONDITION REPORT The plates are in excellent condition without any noteworthy damage and no repairs. As is usual for plates from this period, all plates are crazed. There is some stacking wear around the centre of most plates, as visible in the pictures. Two plates have very fine lines coming off the rim (hardly visible, and only visible from the underside) and one plate has two minute nicks off the rim, which are hardly noticeable. The images are all in fantastic condition with only a few very small scratches here and there, as can be expected from items this old.
 
Antique British porcelain is never perfect. Kilns were fired on coal in the 1800s, 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 23.3cm (9.25").