Plate

Dateca. 1760

Artist/Maker Delftfield Pottery

MediumTin-glazed earthenware (delft)

Dimensions9 1/4"-Diam.; 1 1/4"-H.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1951-131

DescriptionPlate with incised foot ring. Slightly bluish tin glaze decorated in polychrome: in the well, chrysanthemums and other flowers rising from a rock; on the rim, three floral sprays and, at the top, a heraldic mermaid outline in blue. Other outlining and details in manganese-black, branches and rock in bluish mixed green, and flowers in pale manganese, red-orange, and yellow.
Label TextThis plate, bearing what is probably the crest of Murray of Polmaise (Scotland), is part of a service distributed through museum collections in both the United States and the United Kingdom. It consists of plates, octagonal dishes, and a tureen in a form very like those attributed to Dublin and Liverpool (see CWF accession 1963-73). The attribution of this service to the Scottish Delftfield Pottery is based on the similarity of its decoration to that of a bowl inscribed "Joy + Success to Robert Gilchrist Lord Sheriff of Hamilton 1761." Hamilton, in Lanarkshire, is not far from Glasgow.

Lawrence Dinwiddie, who founded the Delftfield pottery in 1748 on family land, was the brother of Robert Dinwiddie, who became governor of Virginia in 1751. Much delft from this pottery was shipped to both Virginia and Maryland. Two Delftfield-made blue-and-white pieces are in the Colonial Williamsburg collection. They are a dish (accession 1990-151) and a flower brick (1990-229).
InscribedCrest of Murray of Polmaise (Scotland), probably
MarkingsNone.
ProvenanceD. M. & P. Manheim, New York