Square Spode Pheasant Pattern Serving Dish c.1816

We have for a sale a lovely and very hard to find early Spode Stone China Pheasant Pattern (Pattern No 2240) square shaped serving dish c.1816. This very striking square shaped Regency period Spode Stone China serving dish is decorated with the very first iteration of the very well loved Spode Pheasant Pattern (Pattern No 2240), consisting of a male and female pheasant in a tree amidst flowers within floral border in a printed underglaze blue further decorated with over glaze polychrome colours including iron red, yellow, green, turquoise and pink. The rim of the dish is decorated with a simple light brown line typical of the Kakiemon style. The reverse of the dish carries the printed underglaze blue Spode Stone China Mark along with the overglaze pattern number 2240 above a decorators mark in black. The Spode Pheasant Pattern The pheasant pattern was one of Spode's most popular patterns. It is based on 18th century Chinese patterns which in turn were inspired by 17th and 18th century century Japanese Kakiemon patterns. The Spode Pheasant Pattern was first introduced in 1816 as pattern 2240, thus making this dish one of the of the first to be decorated with the pattern. The pattern was further slightly modified in around 1822 and replaced by pattern No 3438. Since then the pattern has gone through a number of further modifications and been re-assigned to various different pattern numbers. Spode ceased using the final version of the Pheasant pattern in around 1950. Stone china The dish is made from Stone china, a stoneware fired at 1200 degrees centigrade to give a rise to a hard, heat resistant ceramic using a formula developed by Spode in 1812. This formula included a high percentage of Cornish rock (kaoline rich china stone) thus giving the ceramic a lovely light blueish grey hue, perfect as background colour for a Chinese inspired polychrome design. The dish is 7.9 inches (20cm) wide and is in a truly excellent condition with no chips cracks or repairs and minimal wear to the surface. The dish look as if it has only been used very infrequently and has clearly spent most of it's 209 years in a display cabinet.