Blue and White Transferware Plate

I have this pretty 10" diameter blue and white transferware plate. The backstamp says "Improved Stone China". I looked on potteries.org and this phrase is attributed to Charles Meigh, but this mark isn't shown.

Can anyone confirm that C. Meigh is the maker? If not, any idea who?

Would anyone know the pattern name?

Thanks so much!

Janice

 

I haven't seen a mark like that, but I wonder what is on the banner beneath the lion and horse. I see I C H and D _ I E N. Probably a motto. Check with a transferware collectors site, they'd probably know what the scene is and who the maker is.

 

that's the ugliest backstamp i've ever seen...

 

Thanks, Kentworld. I, too, wondered what was on the banner. I looked on the potteries site for a name beginning with D that ended in i e n but couldn't find anything. I'll try the transfer ware collectors site.

 

The lion looks like a Maurice Sendak production.

 

The lion is smirking at the horse who is fluttering her/his eyelashes in return.

And there's a pole dancer in the middle

 

This actually fits very nicely with our style of political cartooning in the early to mid 19th C. Ich Dien is the Prince of Wales motto. Hon i Soit qui mal y pense is the Order of the Garter, so I suspect someone was taking the p!ss out of Prinny or the Royal Family full stop. That lion - the king or regent - is looking rather lewdly at the coy and flirty unicorn. Prinny was a bit of a rake as were his successors.

 

I think the backstamp is Adorable!!! Would love to have a copy of it to frame.

 

Hahahaahahahahaaaa...........!

 

Somehow this doesn't strike me as old enough to be Meigh. Also the mark is awfully large for the size of the plate. The Meigh attribution seems to be based solely on the words "Improved Stone China" but the Meigh's Improved Stone China mark pictured in Godden doesn't look anything like the above. Can't say for sure it's not Meigh but something doesn't seem quite right.
Don

 

I appreciate everyone's input. I posted it on the Transferware Collectors site but haven't received a response. I've also been looking at heraldry/coats of arms until my eyes crossed. From what I can make out, the shield portion of the mark appears to have the 3 English (Guernsey?) lions in the upper left and lower right quadrants. The upper right quadrant may be a rearing horse or lion. No idea what's in the lower left quadrant as part of the transfer is missing. Most coats of arms have the lion and unicorn in a rearing position with front paws/hooves against the shield. That's not the case here, though I've found a few examples with the lion and unicorn in these position. I'll look more when my eyes recover a bit.

Skeezix - the unicorn is wearing a spiked collar, which does kind of look like the head is separate from the body.

Don--I agree that this mark doesn't resemble Meigh's at all, which is why I posted initially. I've handled enough of these plates to be 99% certain that it's old. I sure wish I could figure out what the banner says as it may be a lead

 

Whoa. I just re-read all the threads and Bear id'd the banner motto is Ich Bien, the Prince of Wales' motto. I think I'll do some research on that. Hope springs eternal….

 

I just looked at that backstamp again...that lion is absolutely lascivious!

 

Ich Dien, rather then Bien.

I shall go and google on political cartoons, that's awfully familiar.

 

Godden's Encyclopaedia of British Pottery and Porcelain Marks, Appendix H-I, p. 722, #4454. has this backstamp with the silly animals, belt with shield and plumes, but a different banner at the bottom. The banner reads "IMP Iron Stone China Stake Works." Here's what it says:

"The ornate Royal Arms mark occurs on good quality Ironstone wares of the 1815-25 period. Note the central inescutcheon or inner shield which occurs on pre Victorian Royal Arms. For information on Ironstone wares see Godden's Guide to Mason's China and the Ironstone Wares (Antique Collectors' Club. Revised ed. 1991)."

Godden's pic of the backstamp is below. I looked through the 3 volumes of William and Weber's Staffordshire Romantic Transfer Patterns: Cup Plates and Early Victorian China for this pattern with no luck.

--- Susan

 

BTW, both Mason and Stephen Folch used a similar backstamp. No doubt others did also. Here is a Stephen Folch blue and white transferware called "Blue Pheasants" that supposedly has the same backstamp as the one in Godden with the banner "IMP Iron Stone China Stoke Works."
https://www.blueandwhite.com/museum.asp?m=Folch&p=Blue+Pheasant

The birds on yours probably would be called Asian pheasants, Chinese birds, etc...

--- Susan

 

Wow--thank you Ladybranch for your hard work! My plate is of better quality that most transfer ware I've had, and better than Mason's Ironstone (I have one piece on hand) from the early 1800s. Perhaps Folch is the maker. I wish I had more of Godden's books.

 

I really like this plate, but I'm beginning to wonder if it's fake. The decoration doesn't look early 19th C to me and the transfer is more crisp than I would expect from that period. The mark resembles others but isn't. Could this be modern and Chinese?

 

My thoughts exactly.....
BUT.....
I wouldn't know a plate from an octopus.......
so take that for what it's worth..!