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A long-tailed bird of pink, blue and gold perches between leafy vines on this Chelsea Bird cake plate. The legendary English house Spode carries the name of an 18th-century potter. Read its story.
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Spode introduced this bone china version of Chelsea Bird in 1989, and the cake plate gives the pattern a softly waved square of its own. Its moulded handles take the shape of shells, outlined and veined in gold. They recall the playful curves of the Rococo.
Josiah Spode learned his trade as a young man under the potter Thomas Whieldon, long before the name Spode appeared on bone china. On this Chelsea Bird cake plate, the house sets a single bird at the centre of a plain white ground. Most of the colour gathers there, and the white around it gives every pink and blue room to glow.
The bird lifts a pink crest above a blue neck, its wings of pink and gold and its long tail poised on a rock of green and gold. Yellow berries hang from the curving vines, while a fern sprig and low foliage gather at its feet. Raised ridges ring the rim beneath fine gilt lines, and a gilt leaf spray opens at each corner. Ringed in gold, the bird keeps its place at the heart of the plate, bright as a summer garden.
Spode began with an apprentice's patience. As a young man Josiah Spode worked for the potter Thomas Whieldon. In 1776 he finished buying the works in Stoke-on-Trent that would carry his name for generations. There a great English name began to take shape.
In 1783 the house perfected underglaze blue transfer printing on fine earthenware. Around 1790 it developed its bone china formula. Josiah Spode II won the title of Potter and English Porcelain Manufacturer to the Prince of Wales, and the fabled house became a household name. In 1816 it launched Blue Italian, a design that has never left production.
In Stoke-on-Trent the Spode Works Visitor Centre stands within part of the historic factory. Its china now graces homes around the world, chosen by collectors wise enough to know a classic. They know each piece carries a craft once honored by a prince.
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