Harlequin's dinner
When a set of teaware or dessert ware consists of matching items in varying colours or designs, we call it "harlequin" - I guess because the classic dress of a harlequin consists of randomly sown-together pieces of fabric.
Today I have a wonderful "harlequin" set of plates by Samuel Alcock. This is the beginning of the second batch of items from the collection of Murray Pollinger, who assembled a huge collection of Samuel Alcock porcelain and did some groundbreaking research. Murray was really the first person to shed light on this mysterious, yet important porcelain factory, which left behind a large treasure trove of items, but very little documentation. This means that later generations were not able to identify and fully understand the output and much of it was mis-identified or even forgotten. So we have a lot to thank Murray Pollinger for - you can read the whole story here, it is very interesting.
These plates are all from the period between 1822 and 1855, and you can see that they are all quite different. There are also two gorgeous and rather over-the-top low comports, with both flowers and landscapes. We see various styles of moulding: melted snow, cornucopia, morse code and also plain. The flowers are, of course, bright and beautiful, and realistic, many of them wild English flowers; several dog roses, which currently are out in bloom along the English country roads; some fox gloves, which I have standing dotted around my allotment, and lots of pansies.
These are all dessert plates. Nowadays, dessert plates are small, but in the early 19th Century desserts consisted of a mix of fruits, trifle, and nuts, so people would get a big plate and then put together a mix of dessert foods. It wasn't until the later 19th Century that cake became popular for dessert.
I am selling these plates separately, but of course they would look amazing together, either on your festive dinner party table, or even all displayed along a large wall.
Where to find things
You can find these dishes in my shop, and many more dishes and plates are here. All my available stock can be found here. If you always want to see the latest additions, follow me on Instagram... I post pictures and a story several times a week.
Happy weekend, and serve Harlequin some dessert! 🥮🍇🍰🍒
This week's treasures:
My grandmother bought mismatched plates for my mother for almost every occasion after my mother got married in 1943. They always called it the "Harlequin Plates" but I've never heard anyone else refer to mismatched plates as Harlequin plates. Ours are not all by the same manufacturer, and I've added to the collection since I inherited in the mid-90s. I can certainly seat at least 16 people by now.