Hand-Painted Highland Cattle Porcelain Plate from Brown-Westhead, Moore & Co., 1868

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A sculpted beaded rim richly finished in burnished gilding defines this four-lobed Victorian porcelain cabinet plate. The quatrefoil contour is … Read more A sculpted beaded rim richly finished in burnished gilding defines this four-lobed Victorian porcelain cabinet plate. The quatrefoil contour is punctuated at each indented cleft by a moulded rope knot rendered in raised white enamel with delicate gilt cord outlining, creating an ornamental frame around the central painted panel. The centre is decorated with a finely executed hand-painted pastoral scene depicting a highland cow standing quietly over her nursing calf. Set against distant rolling hills beneath a soft blue sky with drifting clouds, the animals are captured in shades of chestnut, umber, cream and black. Textural brushwork delineates the damp moorland turf and rushes, completed by an artist's signature inscribed in dark pigment to the lower left. Manufactured in Staffordshire by Brown-Westhead, Moore & Co., the reverse bears a sharp British diamond registration mark dating the piece to 1868. Alongside the registration diamond, the underside features an iron-red hand-painted pattern or tally number beside the glazed footrim, consistent with mid-Victorian factory practice. The plate measures 23 cm across both width and length. While the overall structure remains stable and well suited for cabinet display, condition notes include faint glaze crazing across the surface and a tight, stable hairline crack measuring approximately two centimetres near the lower rim, with the heavy gilt beading and enamelled rope-work remaining remarkably complete. See less