Source Description:

The Otter Cavern And Pond print is from a children's guidebook to the zoo titled Henry And Emma's Visit to The Zoological Gardens Park by James Bishop, c. 1830.

Description:

An earthenware plate printed in purple in the Otter Cavern And Pond pattern. The pattern is also found printed on the outside of an 11 inch beaded rim bowl (the inside of the bowl features The Bramin-Bull House seen in this exhibit on a platter). The London Zoological Gardens opened on April 27, 1828 as a center for scientific research. The Staffordshire potters, always seeking to capitalize on popular culture, produced series that depicted the zoo.  Clews produced the Zoological Gardens Series that showed different patterns on almost each size and shape, usually copied from lithographs and books of the early zoo.