Are dessert plates usually sold singly?

Yes. Singles and pairs dominate what comes to market on Sellingantiques, and they fill the lower half of the range. Part services and sets of six upward do appear, and larger groups occupy most of the top. The biggest single lot in the samples is a collection of twenty-seven French Limoges plates of about 1840; sets of eighteen, seventeen and twelve also occur.

Which factory turns up most often?

Worcester, across all its successive firms. It's named in 55 of 159 titles, about a third of the category, covering First Period and Dr Wall, Barr Flight & Barr, Flight Barr & Barr, Chamberlain, Grainger, Kerr & Binns and Royal Worcester. Regency porcelain from Derby, Coalport, Minton and their neighbours makes up roughly as much again. The field is almost entirely English.

Why do painters' names appear so often?

Because dessert plates were painted, not printed, and the painting was the point. Names get recorded on the plate more often in this category than in most ceramics. On 20th-century Royal Worcester fruit plates the signatures include Sebright, Ayrton, Horace Price, Lockyer and Freeman. On earlier pieces the hands named are James Giles, Thomas Steele, Moses Webster and George Robertson, and these sit in the upper half of the range.

How old are the earliest examples?

The oldest in the samples are Chelsea red anchor floral plates dated around 1753 to 1758, with Bow of about 1758 to 1762 close behind, then a run of First Period Worcester of roughly 1765 to 1780. At the other end, Royal Worcester fruit painting carries dates into the 1950s and 60s.

Is anything here not porcelain?

A modest minority. Earthenware, ironstone and majolica all appear, including Masons Ironstone, Leeds Pottery and drabware. Majolica is a small pocket only: green-glazed, sunflower and basketweave sets of four to eight, all mid to late 19th century. Scottish Wemyss ware turns up three times, painted with cherries, damsons and blackcurrants.

What does a pattern number tell you?

It identifies the decoration at the factory rather than the shape or the date. Numbers such as 1698, 1727, 1732, 2/1063 and 3/1612 appear in these listings, with 'pattern' named in eight titles. Shape names run alongside them. Shrewsbury, shell, Newcastle, 'Royal' shape and star edge all occur, describing the moulded form of the plate.

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Antique Dessert Plates

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The plate from the last course of a formal meal, painted and gilded for display rather than gravy, and collected ever since as much for the painting as the porcelain.