C 1860 Copeland 34-Pc Child's'Mandarin' Blue Willow Dinner Set Staffordshire
34-Pc Child's Spode Copeland'Mandarin' Blue Willow Dinner Set c 1860, Staffordshire Miniature. Reference: Doris Lechler,'English Toy China,' Fig# 235, pp 97, 204-5. This is a scarce child's miniature Dinner Service in a striking blue transferware against creamy white in the'MANDARIN' pattern, made by Spode Copeland, England, c 1860 - 1875. There is a prominent pagoda with a drooping willow tree and another pagoda in the distance on the main island with a man in a boat approaching; to the top is another island with a smaller cottage and between the waterways, flying above, are the two symbolic turtle doves gazing at each other. This is a romantic pictorial version of the legend of the blue willow without the bridge with the two lovers fleeing from the young girl's angry father, a Chinese mandarin, who had promised her to an older but wealthy merchant.
Just as you would expect to see in an adult set, there is an oriental-style border coupled with an inner egg and dart border detail. Made to the same standards of an adult set, some of the pieces are impressed with'Copeland' and some are impressed with the Crown mark that Copeland used, and some bear the marks: MANDARIN, SPODE, COPELAND, ENGLAND. There are some color variations in this child's Dinner Service, and some pattern variations in the platters.
This 34-Pc Child's Blue Willow'MANDARIN' Dinner Service consists of. (1) Tureen with Lid and Underplate: 5" W x 2.75" D x 3 H.Underplate: 4.75 W x 3.25 D. (2) Vegetables with Lids: 5.125" W x 3.75" D x 2.25 H. Edge chip to the Lid of one. (1) Open Vegetable or Pie Dish: 4.75" W x 3.25" D x.
(1) Sauce or Gravy Boat: 4" W x 1.5" D x 1.5 H. (9) Dinner Plates: 4 W.
(5) Salad Plates: 3.5 W. (6) Bread or Dessert Plates: 3.25 W. One with an underside rim chip, another with a rim chip.
(2) Soup Bowls: 4 W. Please excuse any white glare reflections in the photos. This rare child's Dinner Service is in excellent condition with the exceptions listed above. There are some skips in the transfers and keep in mind these pieces were made for children to play with, but other than the exceptions described above, no other chips, cracks, or repairs. There are stilt marks and the normal kiln imperfections done in the making.
I have described this to the best of my ability. If you are a collector of children's china and wares, I would ask you to remember that these sets were made for and played with by children, and therefore, rarely in mint condition. A large inventory of 19th Century children's pottery and porcelain tea, dinner, dessert pieces and sets for your favorite child or the child in all of us exists.Thank you for shopping with me.