Coronation Service, 1830-37 (bone china)

This service, originally consisting of fifty-six large pieces and twelve dozen plates, may claim to be the most ambitious ever produced by an English factory. The Rockingham Works was established in 1825 at Swinton in Yorkshire under the patronage of the second Earl Fitzwilliam (nephew and heir of the Marquis of Rockingham) by the brothers Thomas, George Frederick and John Wager Brameld. By far the youngest of the factories from which services were ordered by William IV following his accession in 1830, the Rockingham Works quickly established a reputation for producing wares of outstanding quality. The designs were made by John Wager Brameld. All of the artists responsible came from within the Rockingham factory's own workforce of around six hundred. They included the modeller Thomas Griffin and the painters George Speight (royal arms), Thomas Brentnall (flowers), William Willis Bayley, William Corden and (probably) Henry Pedley. The factory's chief gilder was Isaac Baguley. The tiered 'triple dress plates' (of which eight were made) were intended for almond pastry. Four 'double dress plates' with only two tiers were also supplied, as well as eight 'grand baskets' for fruit. The smaller 'shell comports' modelled as limpets with clinging mussels and samphire, supported on red coral and mostly decorated with maritime scenes around the feet, were intended for preserves. The eight 'tropical' comports with sugar-cane supports are surrounded by a wreath of East and West Indian fruits which are identified by inscriptions under each as mango, white guava, malay apple, mangotan, mammee, akee, alligator pear, custard apple and longan. These were probably derived from the plates in F.R. de Tussac's Flores des Antilles (Paris, 1808-27) and M.E. Descourtilz's Flore pittoresque et medicale des Antilles (Paris, 1821-9). The reserves on the foot of the tropical comport are painted with Matlock High Tor Derbyshire and Downe Castle.