An exceptional early Georgian Spode porcelain dessert dish, dating to circa 1802, beautifully hand-painted with botanical specimens and a delicate insect at the centre.

The dish has an unusual lobed oval form with a gently scalloped outline, highlighted by a fine gilt rim. The decoration features naturalistic green foliage and a finely painted winged insect, characteristic of early Spode botanical porcelain.

Marks and dating

The underside bears a small impressed SPODE mark, approximately 8mm long, together with separate impressed numerals appearing to read 2 and 7. The hand-painted pattern number 286 appears in brown enamel within two blue concentric circles.

The impressed SPODE mark is consistent with the early type 2a mark illustrated in specialist Spode reference literature, associated principally with the period 1790–1805.

An interesting museum comparison

A closely matching rare-shaped dish is illustrated in specialist Spode literature as plate 223, from the Spode Museum collection. The museum example is decorated in Japanese style and bears the consecutive pattern number 287.

The published description specifically records the impressed Spode mark type 2a and two blue concentric circles, corresponding closely to the markings on this example.

The museum dish measures 10½ inches, compared with approximately 10¼ inches for this example.

The combination of distinctive shape, consecutive pattern numbers and closely corresponding markings provides an interesting comparison with documented early Spode porcelain.

Measurements

Approximately 10¼ inches (26 cm) across the widest point.

Condition

Antique condition with visible age-related wear to the gilt rim and some wear and discolouration around the underside footrim, as shown in the photographs. Please examine all photographs carefully as they form part of the description.

A rare and attractive example of early English porcelain, of particular interest to collectors of Georgian Spode and early nineteenth-century botanical decoration.

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