Copeland-Spode Sacrifice Figures "Jasperware" Cheese Dish, 1891

Description

This handsome cream-colored stoneware cheese dome and stand are slipped in mid-blue with imposed cream-colored sprigs. The body of the dome is adorned with the lissome Greek maidens known as "Sacrifice Figures," spaced out by sprigged trees and small flower arrangements. The top of the dome and the base plate are ringed with Copeland's version of the Grecian laurel border. The blue nut of the acorn is contained in a cream-colored cup. All exposed edges of the stoneware are textured with rouletting. The interior of the dome and the upper surface of the stand are fully coated with a shiny vitreous glaze to protect from staining from dirt and the oils in the cheese. All the sprigs are glazed as well.
The cheese dish stands 9” high overall. The dome is 5” tall with a 2-1/2” high acorn finial and is 8” in diameter.  The base is 10-3/4” in diameter and 2” high. The underside of the stand is impressed “England” and “Copeland” and stamped with the Copeland-Late Spode "boat" transfer-printed logo #265 that was only in use for the eight years between 1897-1894. The dome is marked inside with same logo, which here includes the R[egistere]d No. 190265, dating the manufacture precisely to 1891. Condition is excellent, with no chips, cracks, or repairs.
From the mid-1780s on, Josiah Spode I issued a small quantity of sprigged stoneware from his factory, the former pottery of Turner and Banks at Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, to capitalize on the popularity of sprigged jasperware from Wedgwood and Adams. In 1784, a nineteen-year-old William T. Copeland was hired as an assistant to Josiah Spode II, who ran the Spode firm's London warehouse and showrooms. Copeland rose through the ranks over three generations of Spodes until 1833 when he consummated the purchase of sole ownership of the firm's pottery, the London warehouses and showrooms, the family houses, and their other properties. From 1867 Copeland took his four sons into partnership and the firm became W. T. Copeland and Sons. W. T. Copeland died in 1868, and his sons continued the firm into the 20th Century.
Neither Spode nor Copeland made true jasperware. The firm's cream-colored stoneware was of a different composition and was fired at a higher temperature than Wedgwood's crystaline jasper and the resulting bodies were fully vitrified. The sprigs were all glazed to protect them from soiling. Both Spode’s and Copeland’s main production was devoted to hand-painted and gilded high-fired porcelains. From the late 1870s until the mid-1890s Copeland increased production of its sprigged stoneware to compete with Wedgwood and Dudson, whose jasperware was selling well to the entertainment industry as well as to private Victorian households. The most popular Copeland sprigged patterns of this era were hunting scenes, drinking scenes, sacrifice figures, and the "Dancing Hours."
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