This is beautiful plate made by the Yates factory in about 1825. The plate is decorated with in a white ground with finely hand painted flower reserves, gilt sprigs and a characteristic "shark teeth" pattern around the rim.
The Yates factory was operative between 1784 and 1836 and was mostly based in Shelton, Staffordshire. It worked alongside other more famous potters such as Minton, Spode, Coalport and Ridgway, and produced both earthenwares and porcelain.
The plate is unmarked, as was common during this period.
CONDITION REPORT The plate is in excellent antique condition without any damage, repairs or crazing, but it has some light stacking wear, scratches and rubbing to the gilt, 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 (diameter): 23cm (9").
