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| Salad bowl, Warwick Vase shape, Italian pattern, late 1800s |
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| Catalogue page 'Salads' c1870 |
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Catalogue page 'Salads' c1870
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| Complete supper set in its mahogany tray, Tower pattern c1814 |
Many people enquiring about their old Spode and Copeland dinner, dessert tea and coffee services ask what was in the original set. They want to know so that they can perhaps find missing pieces and match with similar new product or start searching for antique pieces. Or they may wish to recreate a setting for TV, film or the interpretation of a room in an historic house.
Some items can be a puzzle. For example, salad was often a separate course of a dinner so a range of elaborate bowls was produced. Looking at the Warwick Vase shape above it is unlikely that few of us would describe it as 'A Salad'. Most would think it a bowl for fruit or floral arrangements.
The catalogue pages of 'Salads' show the large range of Copeland Salad Bowls produced in the late 1800s. Terminology in the pottery industry often omits the second word we would use in conversations: salad bowl becomes salad, slop bowl becomes slop, tea cup becomes tea and coffee cup becomes coffee etc. Once you know this archive papers make a bit more sense!
Similarly items which made up smaller sets such as a supper set or a bachelor's set often have pieces missing and single part items from these sets are often misunderstood.
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Supper set section painted with Iris early 1800s
(flower from Curtis's Botanical Magazine 1787) |
The composition of a service depends on:
- for which country it was destined
- from which period of history it came - Spode began manufacturing in in the 18th century and the factory closed in 2009
- which social status the purchaser held
- the whim of the purchaser
- the wealth of the purchaser
- fashion: did the purchaser follow old-fashioned or new styles?
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| Catalogue page, c1902 |
Some guidance can be found in the Spode archive. Papers, including catalogues, detail the composition of dinner services, tea services, breakfast services, dessert services and toilet sets at some periods. However at some dates it was just something you knew either as a customer; or as a manufacture making and selling ware. Often nothing was written down on a formal basis. A customer could also specify if you wanted something extra, larger or very different from the norm and many wealthy customers did just that. Tea services rarely included a teapot - that was extra. Many used a silver teapot. Coffee services usually included a coffee pot. Did I mention it was not straightforward!
Old invoices and orders if they exist in an archive can help. And looking at collections in museums which occasionally have full services on show. Blogs by food historians are also useful.
However, I feel it is impossible to give a definitive answer to 'What's in my Spode dinner set?'
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Invoice for random pieces & repairs 1810
(fascinating but no help at all for working out what is in a service) |
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| Dessert services 1800-1828 |
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| Composition of dessert services 1928 |
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Dinner & tea wares in Naran pattern, earthenware 1938
(Spot the beautiful lacquer table) |
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| Composition of earthenware dinner services 1928 |
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| Composition of china dinner services 1928 |
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| Teaware in pattern 2136 c1815 |
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| Composition of tea services 1928 |
As well as pieces for the dining room, sets of ware could be ordered for the kitchen with all sorts of items available. A range was known as 'K pans' - K is for kitchen - and these were decorated with a large black or blue K but otherwise unadorned. And for the bedroom, and later bathroom, toilet ware of all sorts too was available.
