Bancroft's flowers
To me, the best part of spring and summer is the many flowers that grow everywhere. I grow many of them in my garden and my allotment, and I love going out into parks or nature to see them growing in unexpected places. England is a country full of very different flowers, some of them native, many of them introduced from everywhere in the world many years ago. And of course we can see this in porcelain decorations.
One famous porcelain decorator was Joseph Bancroft. Bancroft had started his career as a porcelain painter at the famous Derby factory, learning to paint beautiful flowers - the Derby factory was, of course, famous for exceptional flower painting. He then worked in the London decoration studios for a while, and finally settled in Staffordshire where he became one of Minton's prime flower painters in 1831. He worked there until at least 1858, when he was well into his sixties. Bancroft's flowers are recognisable as closely bunched, delicate and meticulous.
I recently received a large set of plates, made by Minton in 1857 and 1858, and painted by Joseph Bancroft. I decided to split the set in two, offering a part-dessert service serving eight, and the identical other half offered in pairs and single plates. Of course, if you want to have the very large set that would service 16 people, you can snap them up together - but this way more people can enjoy these beautiful items.
They are shaped in the "Newcastle embossed" shape. Minton created many differently embossed and moulded shapes, and named them after famous cities. This one is more or less a copy of a famous shape made by the German Meissen factory, but Minton added it's own typical colour palette of fresh turquoise blue and gilt. Joseph Bancroft decorated quite a few of these services over his career; the pattern used here was from 1846, but the plates have the impressed marks for 1857 and 1858, so it might have been a replacement order.
Where to find things
You can find these dishes in my shop, and many more dessert services here. All my available stock can be found here. You'll see that I have also paired these dishes with two adorable Minton figures, which were meant to be brought out on the table for dessert. These are the gardeners, so they are very appropriate. If you always want to see the latest additions, follow me on Instagram... I post pictures and a story several times a week.
Happy weekend, and fill your table with flowers! 🌸🌹🌼🌷
This week's new treasures:
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