Description:
The brothers John & Richard Riley came from a North Staffordshire farming family and were likely trained as potters in Lane End (Longton) in the late 18th century, beginning in business for themselves about 1796. They first leased a pottery in Nile Street Burslem, but in 1811 purchased the Hill House estate in Burslem where they rebuilt the manufactory. The factory produced a full range of ceramics of which printed earthenware was only a part. Both brothers died in 1828 and in 1831 an advertisement selling the stock, engraving, molds, and other effects of the late Messrs. J. R. Riley included engraved copper plates of many named designs and a range of shapes including plates, jug sets, toilet sets, table services, egg cups and aptly “mourning plates”. Circular jiggered plate composed of a pearlware body with transfer printed underglaze blue decoration of a small dot border, a rose pattern border on the rim, in the center well a young man tending his flock of sheet kneels before a young woman who is playing a pipe or flageolet. Behind them runs a river with some shallow rapids, beyond which rises a large country house where more sheep graze on the lawn; the pattern is taken from a painting by Claude Lorraine entitled "Landscape with Shepherds". This pattern is known to collectors as "Girl Musician." Underglaze blue printed mark in a circular garter on the reverse of the plate reads: "RILEY'S/ Semi China"
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2015.36.18 |
