A garden of flowers

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I have a special weakness for beautiful sets of plates... Not long ago I had a beautiful dessert service made by Ridgway with stunning botanical paintings, and it was sold within hours. So I felt very lucky to come across the stunning Coalport service with similarly amazing flowers - and again it was sold within hours! But because it is so beautiful, I will still show you its beauty.

I am saying dessert service - but actually I should say "part service". A full 19th Century dessert service has 12 or 18 plates, three or five comports of which one is on a high foot (a "tazza"), several serving dishes and two lidded sauce tureens on stands... so this set of one serving dish and six plates is only a small fragment. But as our houses are smaller today, and our dining habits simpler, it is perfect for our times. Or of course it could cover the wall of your dining room as a stunning display.

This service was made in 1843 and painted by John Toulouse. We know very little about who John Toulouse was. One theory is that he came from France (given his name), which would explain his more detailed and slightly formal style of painting compared to his contemporaries, who liked to take some liberty to suggest changing light or the moving of a leaf. The other theory is that he came from Worcester, where there was one John Toulouse at some point. We will never know, but what we do know is that he made stunning botanical paintings!

You can find more dessert services here in my shop... and if you always want to see the latest, follow my instagram feed... I post pictures and stories every single day.

Enjoy your weekend!