This is a stunning and rare Spode dessert service made between 1813 and 1822, consisting of a centre piece, a lozenge shape dish, four shell dishes and ten plates. The service is made of Stone China and decorated in the famous and desired "Ship" pattern no. 3067, which was first brought out in the year 1813.
 
As many of these dessert services are nowadays tragically being broken up to be sold in individual pieces, it is now extremely rare to come across a whole service, so this is a wonderful opportunity.
 
Blue on white decorations were done in East Asia for many centuries, and were made popular in the West by the Dutch Delftware potters in the 17th Century. In about 1800, the famous Spode factory in Staffordshire created a transfer printing process that could mass produce beautifully decorated blue and white wares, making this a very common and desired choice of tableware for the two centuries to come. Potters all over Britain quickly started to make use of this new technology and copied the famous Spode patterns. Once the blue on white transfers had caught on, Spode started to print in colour; mostly printing in one colour (in this case: brown) and then filling in the other colours by hand. This way, they could offer wonderfully colourful dinner services at a much lower cost, as they needed only a skilled engraver for the plate that provided the outline of the image, and the transferring and colouring could be done by less skilled people. These were often women and apprenticed children.
 
The image on this service is a very famous one, and one of the most desired of the Spode patterns. It is of a mother and child with a European tall ship in the background - they look like they have waved good bye to the ship and are in conversation. Also in the background is a typical European trading post in East Asia - this plate clearly celebrates the lively trade between East and West at the time. The pattern is a copy of an 18th Century Chinese pattern and it It is possible that this is the Kanton river, now Guangzhou, where Chinese export porcelain was painted and prepared for export to Europe. The border of the plate, which has became very popular and was widely used on other plates, is called the "Ship Border" after this original image. It was later used in all kinds of other permutations; it is a classic Chinese pattern of beautiful flowers against a backdrop of little waves, referring to the sea.
 
This service is made of Stone China, which was Spode's recipe for very strong pottery with a high percentage of Cornish rock, which gives it he beautiful greyish hue. This is strictly speaking not porcelain but earthenware; however it is extremely strong and therefore was a popular choice for dinner services. Stone China was used between 1812 and 1822; it was then improved and called New Stone China.
 
Pattern 3133 is almost identical to pattern 3067, which was brought out a little earlier, and has an ever-so-slightly differently colouring.
 
The plate carries the printed SPODE Stone China mark, as well as the hand painted pattern number 3133.
 
An image of the very similar Ship pattern no. 3067 can be found in plate 288 and colour plate 9 of Leonard Whiter's book "Spode". 
 
CONDITION REPORT The service is in excellent antique condition with only a few flaws; the centre piece has a complex but stable staple or rivet repair, making it entirely safe to use as shown in the last image. One plate has a crack and one plate has a chip; otherwise there is no damage or crazing and hardly any rubbing or scratching.
 
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 centre piece 29.5cm X 18.8cm and 10cm high (11.75" X 7.4" and 4" high); lozenge shape dish 28cm X 19.5cm (11" X 7.75"); shell dishes 23cm X 20.3cm; plates 20.5cm (8.1") diameter.