Images(3)

Plate

Date1796-1810

Maker Derby Porcelain Manufactory (1750-1784)

Painted by William Pegg

Painted by John Brewer

OriginEngland, Derbyshire

MediumSoft-paste porcelain

DimensionsDiameter: 9 in.

Credit LineGift of Alex Franklin

Object number2018-150

DescriptionSoft-paste porcelain plate of circular shape with fluted rim (Derby Plate Pattern Book shape #115). The molded rim decorated with a lily of the valley border in gold. Cavetto painted in blue, green, black, and brown enamels with a botanical specimen of flowering Liver Wort (Anemone Hepatica). Painted on back in blue: Derby mark of jeweled crown over cross batons, six dots and script D; pattern number 115; and plant name "Liver Wort."
Label TextThe Derby Porcelain Manufactory is the only English porcelain factory known to have used John Edwards' A Book of Flowers (published 1795) as a source of decoration. That publication and William Curtis' Botanical Magazine served as the decoration sources for the Derby botanical painters.

This plate decorated with a flowering Liver Wort (Anemone Hepatica) is identified in Curtis' Botanical Magazine, but is also illustrated in Edwards' book. The painting style most closely resembles that of Derby’s Quaker artist William Pegg. More research into Pegg's surviving sketches may confirm this attribution. Liver Wort is a plant indigenous to North America and was recognized in the 18th century for its medicinal qualities. The plate is an important piece of Derby porcelain that illustrates a native botanical specimen copied from publications available to English and American consumers in the late-18th and early-19th centuries.
MarkingsPainted on back in blue: Derby mark of jeweled crown over cross batons, six dots and script D; pattern number 115; and plant name "Liver Wort."