Antique Staffordshire Aesthetic Period Flow Mulberry "Aliwal" Pattern Tree in the Well Meat Platter, Circa 1870

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Antique Staffordshire Aesthetic Period Flow Mulberry "Aliwal" Pattern Tree in the Well Meat Platter, Circa 1870

A rare and visually … Read more Antique Staffordshire Aesthetic Period Flow Mulberry "Aliwal" Pattern Tree in the Well Meat Platter, Circa 1870

A rare and visually spectacular example of Victorian Aesthetic period Staffordshire transferware, this magnificent flow mulberry meat platter in the exceptionally scarce "Aliwal" pattern represents the very pinnacle of mid to late 19th century English ceramic decorative ambition. At 21 by 17½ inches this is an impressively large and commanding piece — a proper Victorian meat platter of the grandest domestic scale — and the combination of the rare Aliwal pattern, the atmospheric flow mulberry decoration, and the classic tree in the well form makes this one of the most distinctive and collectible transferware platters that could be offered to a serious collector or discerning decorator.
The Aliwal pattern — named for the Battle of Aliwal fought in 1846 during the First Anglo-Sikh War — is a richly botanical Aesthetic period design of considerable beauty and complexity, its sweeping floral and foliate composition rendered in the characteristic flow mulberry color that bleeds and halos at the edges in the atmospheric, almost watercolor-like manner that gives flow ware its uniquely dreamy and romantic visual quality. The decoration covers the broad well and generous border with extraordinary richness and density — large exotic blooms, curling tendrils, and lush botanical elements all woven together in the confident, exuberant decorative vocabulary of the Aesthetic movement at its most accomplished. The braided rope border adds a further note of period elegance and compositional precision.
The tree in the well form — with its characteristic raised ridges channeling meat juices toward the well at one end — is the quintessential Victorian meat platter design, combining practical elegance with decorative ambition in the way that only the finest Victorian table ceramics could achieve. At 2½ inches in depth this is a substantially and impressively proportioned piece with real three dimensional presence that photographs beautifully and displays magnificently on a table, dresser, or wall.
The overall condition is crisp and clean with very minor staining — a remarkable state of preservation for a piece of this scale and age. Three minor chips on the foot rim and one underglaze foot rim chip are honestly noted and entirely consistent with the handling and storage of a large platter over more than 150 years — none of these condition points are visible from the front display surface and do nothing to diminish the platter's considerable decorative impact and presence.
The maker remains unidentified — not uncommon for Staffordshire production of this period — and represents an opportunity for further research by the acquiring collector.
Dimensions: 21"L × 17.5"W × 2.5"H
Type: Flow mulberry transfer meat platter, tree in the well form
Pattern: Aliwal — rare Aesthetic period botanical design
Origin: Staffordshire, England, Circa 1870
Condition: Crisp and clean overall; very minor staining; three minor foot rim chips and one underglaze foot rim chip — not visible from display surface See less