This is a beautiful dessert plate made by machin around 1825, which is known as the Regency period. The plate has the famous "moustache" moulding and beautiful hand painted flowers. It would have formed part of a large dessert service.
Previously it was thought that these plates were made by Ridgway - a reference by Geoffrey A. Godden, the famous porcelain expert, in his well-known book "Ridgway Porcelains" widely broadcasted this very reasonable assumption. However, recent research has shown that this design was made by Machin, a smaller maker that was equally skilled at producing beautiful porcelain dessert services.
Machin & Co was one of the many potteries in Staffordshire such as Spode, Coalport, H&R Daniel and many others during the 1820s and 1830s. They were in operation between 1812 and 1830 and made very high quality porcelain. As this was not a very long period, their wares are now quite rare and very desired among collectors.
The moustache shape was a popular shape in the 1820s and you can see the moustache shaped moulding on the edges. The plate has a simple white ground and fine "melting snow" gilding along the rims. In the centre of the plate is a sublimely painted pink Japanese anemone. We know very little about the painters at Machin as they did not document their work, but this service was certainly decorated by a very skilled artist. This pattern has been done in may different versions.
The plate is unmarked except the pattern number 691 - the moustache shape plates were done many times in different variations and colours with different pattern numbers; I have so far sold similar plates with numbers 611, 660, 692, 733 and 848.
CONDITION REPORT The plate is in excellent antique condition without any damage, crazing or repairs, but it has a little rubbing to the gilt and the image as visible in the pictures.
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): 19cm (7.5") diameter.
SHIPPING I ship worldwide from the UK, mostly by Royal Mail 2nd Class for the UK and International Tracked and Signed for the rest of the world. I am happy to combine shipping charges on multiple items - please contact me to discuss. In principle I do not make a profit on shipping although for simplicity's sake I charge flat shipping fees. If the fee charged greatly exceeds the actual cost I will gladly refund you the difference - at the same time if it is slightly lower I will gladly make up the difference. In some countries shipping will end up significantly more than the expected fees and I will contact you to discuss our options. PLEASE CONTACT ME FOR ANY QUESTIONS REGARDING SHIPPING COSTS AND OPTIONS.
Machin moustache plate, white with pink flower, ca 1825
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