Description:

This Bow plate is decorated with one of the relatively few underglaze blue printed  patterns used at the factory.  It has been named the Spinning Maiden, as it is said to have been inspired by the Chinese legend of the romance between the Oxherd and the Spinning Maiden. This pattern is more frequently found on Derby porcelain.

It may be that, after he left Worcester in 1759, Richard Holdship was at Bow for a time before his arrival at Derby in 1764.  He introduced printing in underglaze blue at Derby and it is possible that he also did this at Bow but there is no direct evidence of his being at the latter factory. 

Around the rim the plate also bears five distinctive floral sprays.

This plate was previously in the collections of Dr Ainslie and Sir William Mullens and is now in the Freeman collection at Pallant House Gallery, see Anton Gabszewicz Bow Porcelain (1982) item 122.