This is a beautiful diamond shaped dish made by H&R Daniel in 1824. The dish was potted in the "cusped" shape and bears pattern no. 4019 with beautiful hand painted flowers in the centre and charming purple moulded sprigs along the rim.
This dish would have belonged to a large dessert service . These services would have had two, four or six of these depending on the number of place settings.
We have several other items available in this pattern, as well as an entire dessert service in the very similar pattern 3835, please see separate listings.
The H & R Daniel porcelain factory was founded by Henry Daniel, son of a family of master colour makers. He headed up the decoration department in the famous Spode factory where he oversaw all the beautiful early Spode decorations. In 1822 he opened his own factory with his son Richard, creating a truly iconic body of work with the most subtle colours and beautifully painted flowers and landscapes.
The Daniel factory was the last true cottage industry among the English porcelain factories, resisting the increase of industrialisation and mass production. This resulted in extraordinary and unrivalled quality, but it probably also led to the factory having to close its doors in 1846 because it could no longer compete with others who did modernise. Daniel porcelain can be hard to identify as the factory was only around for about two decades, but this short duration and the low output also means that Daniel items have become true collectors' items.
This dish was potted in the "cusped" shape, which was used between 1823 and 1825. It is a beautiful shape that was also used by the Yates factory and often gets mixed up.
The dish is unmarked, which is common for this era.
Documentation: A plate in this pattern is shown on page 23 of "Daniel Patterns on Porcelain Tablewares" by Susan & Gordon Pickett.
CONDITION REPORT The dish is in excellent antique condition without any damage, crazing or repairs except some extremely fine crazing just near the moulded sprigs, which is common. The dish itself is bright and sounds like a bell when tapped.
Antique British porcelain is never perfect. Kilns were fired on coal in the 1800s, and this meant that china from that period can have some firing specks from flying particles. British makers were also known for their experimentation, and sometimes this resulted in technically imperfect results. Due to the shrinkage in the kiln, items can have small firing lines or develop crazing over time, which should not be seen as damage but as an imperfection of the maker's recipes, probably unknown at the time of making. Items have often been used for many years and can have normal signs of wear, and gilt can have signs of slight disintegration even if never handled. I will reflect any damage, repairs, obvious stress marks, crazing or heavy wear in the item description but some minor scratches, nicks, stains and gilt disintegration can be normal for vintage items and need to be taken into account.
There is widespread confusion on the internet about the difference between chips and nicks, or hairlines and cracks. I will reflect any damage as truthfully as I can, i.e. a nick is a tiny bit of damage smaller than 1mm and a chip is something you can easily see with the eye; a glazing line is a break in the glazing only; hairline is extremely tight and/or superficial and not picked up by the finger; and a crack is obvious both to the eye and the finger. Etcetera - I try to be as accurate as I can and please feel free to ask questions or request more detailed pictures!
DIMENSIONS (diameters): 27.5cm (10.75") X 22cm (8.75").
