A plate for the English market

A pattern for this plate survives, the only complete design for an armorial service to be recorded. It was made for Leake Okeover, whose arms are impaled with those of his wife, Mary Nichol; their conjoined monogram, LMO, appears in cartouches on the rim. The service was shipped from Canton in two installments in 1740 and 1743. Invoices refer only to plates and dishes, and this limitation, together with the richness of the decoration, suggests that they were intended more for display than for use.

The unattributed design is identified on the reverse as a "Pattern for China"; clumsily, however, it is painted on buff-toned paper, so that the white flowers in the drawing had to be colored in the porcelain to be effective on the white ground.