This octagonal aesthetic movement earthenware plate is printed in dark brown and painted underglaze in shades of fuchsia or red, golden yellow, green and blue.  The pattern features exotic blooming orchids and wildflowers mixed with fern fronds surrounding two cartouches; one of The Customs House in Boston. It was designed in a neoclassical style by architect Ammi Burnham Young. This building was a cruciform (cross shaped) Greek Revival structure that combined a Greek Doric portico with a Roman dome design resembled a four-faced Greek temple, topped with a dome. The other cartouche contains a view of The Lieutenant Governor’s Residence in Toronto. In 1868 a grand vice regal residence was built in downtown Toronto, designed in the Second Empire style.

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