Antique Regency Neoclassical Pearlware Plate c.1820 Pink Lustre Gilt 19cm

An attractive English Regency pearlware plate, c.1815-1830, decorated in the neoclassical Empire taste with a bronze-gilt printed and hand-coloured pattern of acanthus and anthemion arabesques, a central rosette and a Greek-key fret band. Highlights of pink lustre and grey-blue enamel to the leaf motifs.

Pearlware - a refined white-bodied earthenware introduced by Josiah Wedgwood in 1779 - became the standard medium for printed and hand-painted English tableware throughout the late Georgian and Regency periods. The neoclassical Empire style, derived from the French Empire of Napoleon and absorbed into English design through the Regency era, brought a vocabulary of acanthus scrolls, classical rosettes, Greek-key bands and anthemion borders to the table. Pink lustre - a metallic gold-based glaze that fires to a pink iridescent surface - was a particularly fashionable touch on Regency tableware in the 1815-1830 period.

This plate measures approximately 19cm in diameter. The decoration is well executed and the pink lustre highlights bright. Unmarked, as was normal for printed pearlware of the period - several factories (Spode, Wedgwood, Davenport, Ridgway, Newhall) produced very similar patterns. There is overall age crazing to the glaze, characteristic and expected for pearlware of two centuries' age.

A pretty period piece, ideal for the collector of Regency tablewares or as a display piece on a dresser. UK delivery; collection from Nottingham welcome.