Description:

This large porcelain dish is decorated with a variety of prints associated with Richard Holdship who signed an agreement with the Derby porcelain factory in 1764 to sell them his process for transfer printing in "Enamell and Blew".  This dish shows many blisters in the glaze and is possibly an early attempt at transfer printing at the Derby factory.  Alternatively it may have been produced at the Cockpit Hill Pot Works in Derby, where some porcelain also seems to have been made. John Heath, the Derby banker, was a partner in both the Derby Porcelain Factory and the Cockpit Hill Works.

The print of the Swans and Sampan beside a fenced pagoda was also used at Worcester and Bow.  See Anneke Bamberry  Derby Porcelain International Journal 5 for a discussion of Richard Holdship's printing at Derby.