Physical Description

Two conjoining earthenware fragments from the base and rim of a plate. Partial maker's mark incorporates the pattern name 'Asia...' and 'w', which is presumably part of the maker's name. Transfer print is blue 'Asiatic Pheasants', popular in the second half of the 19th century and into Edwardian times.

Physical Description

Two conjoining earthenware fragments from the base and rim of a plate. Partial maker's mark incorporates the pattern name 'Asia...' and 'w', which is presumably part of the maker's name. Transfer print is blue 'Asiatic Pheasants', popular in the second half of the 19th century and into Edwardian times.

More Information

  • Collection Names

    Royal Exhibition Building Western Forecourt Collection

  • Collecting Areas

    Public Life & Institutions, Historical Archaeology, Royal Exhibition Building

  • Acquisition Information

    Transfer from Godden Mackay Logan Heritage Consultants (GML), Department of Archaeology, La Trobe University, Australia Gallery, History & Technology Department, Museum Victoria, 20 Nov 2009

  • Manufacture Date

    circa 1840s-circa 1915

  • Context Number

    I16//

  • Site

    Australia, Victoria, Melbourne, Royal Exhibition Building Western Forecourt

  • Distinguishing Marks

    Maker's mark. Wild Rose was superseded by Asiatic Pheasants in the 1850s and was one of the cheapest transfer printed patterns available in the 19th century. Asiatic Pheasants was made by at least sixty factories over a period of about forty years and, behind Willow, was the most popular pattern in the second half of the 19th century and into Edwardian times. It became a standard pattern produced on inexpensive wares.

  • Activity

    Food Service

  • Specific Activity

    Plate

  • Decoration

    Transfer-printed

  • Colour

    Blue

  • Classification

    Historical archaeology

  • Category

    History & Technology

  • Discipline

    Archaeology - Historical

  • Type of item

    Object

  • References

    Klose and Malan 2000: 55; Coysh and Henrywood 1982: 29, Potter 1998: 8
    [Article - Journal] Klose, J & Malan, A. The Ceramic Signature of the Cape in the Nineteenth Century, with Particular Reference to the Tenant Street Site, Cape Town. The South African Archaeological Bulletin. 55: 49-59., 2000, 55 Pages
    [Book] Coysh, Arthur W. & Henrywood, R K. 1982. The Dictionary of Blue and White Printed Pottery 1780-1880. I., 1982, 29 Pages
    [Chapter] Potter, J. Introduction, in Roberts, Gaye B. True Blue: Transfer Printed Earthenware. 7-10., 1998, 8 Pages

  • Keywords

    Archaeology, Eating & Dining, Royal Exhibition Building, World Heritage