As commissioned by the TCC I have written an article for them and it has been posted on their excellent website. It tells the story of my research into an amazing and rare orchid book of the early 1800s. It is very, very large and I found fragments at Spode which are now in the Spode archive. Written by Staffordshire man James Batman there is an unexpected Spode connection.
You will find my paper here.
In the meantime enjoy one of my favourite Spode objects decorated with orchids: this fine looking tile in sage green clay. It is printed and then hand coloured.
Whilst you are on the TCC website explore a little and note that, if you join, you get access to their remarkable database of over 10,000 transfer printed patterns...