Description:

An earthenware indented plate printed in blue with the Elephant and Howdah pattern, sometimes referred to as the Processional Elephant and Howdah pattern.  This pattern appears in the surviving W & Co Pattern & Shape Book. Based on the impressed WEDGWOOD & Co mark found on this plate, it was likely produced during Ralph Wedgwood's tenure at the Hill Pottery. For more on the Wedgwood & Co mark, see Griffin, John. The Yorkshire Potteries, p. 156.   For more on the elephant and howdah patterns 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.  To see another interesting variation of the pattern included in the exhibit, click here.