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Cobalt and iron red geometry spreads across Royal Crown Derby's Old Imari soup bowls, a design made from about 1882. King George III let Derby set a crown above its name. Read its story.
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In 1775, by the house's own account, the king allowed the factory to put a crown on its ware and in its name. Here that crowned name meets Old Imari, and each of these rimmed soup bowls is finished with 22k gold, a form made for clear broths and cream soups.
Old Imari is built in layers. Elaborate geometry in the brightly colored Japanese Imari manner is layered with intricate florals, every cobalt and iron red motif hand-painted. The result feels ordered and abundant at once, a garden laid out on a grid.
The wide rim gives the full Imari border room to unfold, and a center pattern fills each bowl. Brought out for the first course, they turn the opening of a dinner into an occasion.
Royal Crown Derby began with an artist's gift. In 1750, by the house's account, Andrew Planche was making figurines by hand at Derby's first china works. There he became close friends with William Duesbury, whose decorating skills matched his own.
King George III granted the Derby works the honor of a crown in its mark. In 1890 Queen Victoria appointed the illustrious house Manufacturers of porcelain to Her Majesty and granted it the name Royal.
Its Osmaston Road works in Derby, opened in 1875 by the house's account, is still its home. There a pattern from 1911 is still made under the very same roof. Its porcelain now glows in homes around the world, gathered by collectors who settle for nothing less than the finest. They know each piece carries a crown first granted by a king.
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