Description:

An octagonal creamware platter printed in brown with a variation of the Elephant and Howdah pattern and enameled overglaze. This version of the pattern varies notably from the marked Wedgwood & Co version.  Minnie Holdaway attributed this version of the Elephant and Howdah pattern to Wedgwood & Co based on the fact that the outer border pattern is included in the W & Co. Shape and Pattern Book .   Reference; ECC Transactions, Volume 12, Part 3, 1986, "The Wares of Ralph Wedgwood" pages 255-264, Plate 160.  However, this pattern differs from the marked Wedgwood & Co. pattern in several ways, most notably, the absence of the procession and the very different landscape at the top center of the pattern. In the version shown here, a winding road leads the viewer to a fenced compound in the center of which a tall temple stands. Large fruit trees also play a dominant role in the scene. Furthermore, the border on this pattern is unlike the butterfly border found on the marked Wedgwood & Co pattern included in the W & Co. Shape and Pattern Book.  See the Northern Ceramic Society Journal pages 97-136, Vol. 29, 2013 for an article 'Animals on Printed Pots: Understanding the Roles Animals Played in Early British Wares c.1790-1820' by Loren L. Zeller.  Renard Broughton also observes that only the marked version of the pattern is included in the Shape and Pattern Book. Reference; Friends of Blue Bulletin, No. 163, pages 2-3,