J. GOODWIN VIEWS OF LONDON-THE ROYAL EXCHANGE HISTORICAL ANTIQUE PLATE C. 1845

This Super Rare Plate Ranks in the Historical Staffordshire Category of English Transferware Ironstone. It was manufactured by J. Goodwin, Seacombe Pottery located in Liverpool, England. This factory operated 1835-1864.

The plate dates approximately 1843-1845. It is entitled “VIEWS OF LONDON” on back of the plate. The actual view in the Series is the ROYAL EXCHANGE. It is brown transfer print on an ironstone medium. It measures 9 1/2" Diameter. It is paneled with the “Alhambra” border which depicts Moorish castles.

The scene is actually the Third Royal Exchange built by William Tite an opened by Queen Victoria in 1844. The equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington by Sir Francis Lantrey stands in front.

COMMENT: The name “Alhambra” refers to the ancient royal palace and fortress in Spain, one of the finest examples of Moorish art in the world, which stands on a hill overlooking the city of Granada” (quotation taken from the Dictionary of Blue and White Printed Pottery 1780-1880 by A.W. Coysh and R.K. Henrywood, copyright. 1982, Baron Publishing, Woodbridge, Suffolk, Eng., Pg.18).

PROVENANCE: This plate was found in an antique market some twenty three years ago. Believe me! The dealer was very possessive and certainly knew what he had possessed. It was not an easy deal to make. It has been in my private collection ever since. These London Views are considerably rare and are highly sought after by connoisseur collectors and museums.

Why this plate had surfaced in Quebec is probably due to the fact that the Goodwin family imported to their china warehouses in Toronto, Ontario lots of china for distribution throughout the colonies (called the Dominion of Canada in 1867, when Upper and Lower Canada united).

HISTORICAL STAFFORDSHIRE: This plate falls into a very special category being referred to as Historical Staffordshire or Historical China. This means that the views are actual typographical views of real places, events (i.e. Battle Scenes), or people in history.

This category of transferware scenes was made for export to the colonies (Canada), and the United States as a means of educating the public what the rest of the world looked liked.

You must remember we were not globally plugged in by telephone, radio, television or the internet in the 1840’s. So the only means of communication was mail. So, the potters figured one way of communicating how the rest of the world looked at the time would be to transfer scenes on china and ship it abroad.

The potters traveled abroad for inspiration; they would gather information and prints from artist and illustrators who did engravings and sketches as they too traveled. One great example of this would be the famous Henry Bartlett Views. His sketches were avidly transferred onto ironstone by some of the British potters at the time; Francis Morley is one prime example with his manufacture of Canadian Views on china in the 1840’s period. Another would be that of the Davenport factory that transferred onto pearlware six major views of Montreal in the 1830’s, taken from Robert Auchmuty Sproule’s water colors depicting Views of Montréal. What wonderful water colors and fabulous rare scenes that were transferred onto the “pearlware” medium in blue and white in 1830! Robert Sproule first published these scenes in Nov. 1829.

I was the proud owner of several of the watercolors as well as a beautiful platter Davenport’s Montreal, some twenty three years ago. The pleasure of owing these beautiful pieces of history was immeasurable as I am sure today’s owners are experiencing.

We have three basic categories of Historical China: (1) American Views, (2) British Views, and (3) Canadian Views. There are others as well depicting the Middle East which were transferred by other British potters at the time e.g. Ridgways Beauties of America.

The very first Historical China Views was produced in a very intense “dark inky blue” which some dealers call “flow blue”. Technically it is “Historical Blue” produced in 1800-1820. One such example would be the early Enoch Wood 1790-1820 period; another would be Ralph Hall, and yet another would be Stevenson.

Afterwards, Ridgways produced their pale blue transfer views. As we came into the 1840’s period colors were that of dark browns, greens, pinks and polychrome scenes. Whatever! They are all fantastic irrespective of color and deserve great respect and command to be acquired by connoisseur collection and museums. Such items as these are not in great abundance and just aimlessly floating around out there. Availability is less and less as the years pass by; and what is made available is steadily increasing price wise. Such pieces are an excellent investment and hold strong market value and will continue to escalate in value.

CONDITION: This plate has an excellent intense dark brown color transfer; the quality of transfer print is excellent as well. There are no kiln splits or sagging and no glaze bubbles. The plate is in fine condition except for a small crack that measures approximately 2 1/2” in length from exterior of border going inward. It does not significantly show on the front. Basically it is an age crack. Don’t fret! There are not too many of these plates floating around in the market place in any condition! The choice is yours! Therefore this plate is being offered to you in "as is" condition.