Spode and Bang Up Pattern... or the pattern with a funny name

Soup plate, stone china, 'Bang Up' pattern 2886 c1820 (Lovers of Blue & White)

Here's an oriental pattern from Spode with an odd name. Sometimes it is easy to find a reason for a pattern name, or at least to take a stab at why it was called what it was, but this one is still a bit of a mystery.

'Bang Up' pattern was first introduced by Spode in about 1820. It was recorded with pattern number 2886 and, like most records in the pattern books, no name was mentioned with the paper entry. The pattern is oriental in style but, unlike other Spode patterns of the early 1800s, a Chinese porcelain original is not known. The origin of the name remains puzzling.

The pattern was usually printed and then handcoloured. Some versions had added gilding.

Comport, stone china, 'Bang Up' pattern 2886 c1820

Comport, looking down. Note how the central design in the panel is adapted to follow the shape

'Bang Up' proved to be a very popular and successful pattern for Spode and several versions of it were produced over the next 100 years or so. It would seem the pattern is known by the name 'Bang Up' whether it has the panel around the central spray of flowers with a bead at the edge as in pattern 2886; or if these are omitted as in other versions such as patterns 3504 and 3690.

Soup plate, stone china, pattern 3504 c1823

Pattern 3690 is a combination of two Spode patterns - it has the 'Bang Up' centre and 'Ship' border.

Soup plate, stone china, 'Bang Up' pattern 3690 c1823 (Lovers of Blue & White)

Interestingly the design enjoyed a revival in the late 1800s and again in the 1930s. Some of these later versions are mentioned below.

Pattern 2/4074 was introduced in about 1895. It was similar in design to 'Bang Up' with pattern number 3504 of about 1823 but was produced on earthenware on 'Gadroon' shape. This version was available until about 1960.

Dish (meat dish/platter), earthenware, 'Gadroon' shape, 'Bang Up' pattern 2/4074

Backstamp on dish, pattern 2/4074

Pattern S2374 on earthenware on 'Camilla' shape was introduced in about 1938. The body had a 'Royal Jasmine' glaze. It was printed in blue, hand coloured onglaze. The 1938 catalogue, whilst still unsure of the name, includes a seemingly randomly chosen date for the pattern of 1808. Its marketing blurb includes:

'Here, in an oddly named design, the artist has evolved in truly Eastern style a glorious medley of conventional flowers, bright and gay, to please the most fastidious taste of any period.'

'Bang Up' earthenware, pattern S2374, 1938

Pattern W6 was introduced in 1939. It was on fine stone - a more modern name for Spode's stone china. It was again similar to pattern 3504.

Sometimes the border of the pattern was used alone with a badge or coat of arms replacing the central panel. The panel shape was also used in pattern number 2/6750 introduced in about 1915 but with a completely different design in the centre.

Spode Patterns in the Very Early 1800s Part 1

Saucer, pattern 312 c1803

I rather like Spode designs from the very early 1800s. So here is a look at a few of them produced on the then new bone china. By 1804 around 600 patterns had been recorded in the pattern books. The books are in the Spode archive.

Each design was recorded with a unique number. Dates of Spode pattern introductions are always approximate at this period as dates rarely appear in the pattern books. The dates given here are based on the meticulous research of Robert Copeland.

Cup & saucer, Bute shape, pattern 309 c1803 

I have chosen to show some patterns mostly on teacups, coffee cups or coffee cans.

All are bone china.

All are handpainted & gilded (unless otherwise stated). This gold decoration is... well... gold! There used to be a specific gold safe at the Spode factory in Stoke.

Spode plate (detail), pattern unrecorded, gold border, c1800

All were fired in bottle ovens multiple times for the many separate firings they required during manufacture.

These wares were produced for people who were well-to-do; wealthy enough to be able to afford this very fine and highly fashionable ware and wealthy enough to have the accompanying lifestyle. Customers included HRH The Prince of Wales, later HM King George IV, as well as many other royal families worldwide. In 1806 Spode II was appointed 'Potter & English Porcelain Manufacturer to His Royal Highness'.

These early bone china designs are elegant and of high quality. Sometimes I think they look surprisingly modern.

Teacup, London shape, pattern 312 c1803

Pattern 312, pattern inside cup

Pattern 312 has a beautiful design of roses & forget-me-nots in gold cornucopia. It is a deceptively clever design which is painted and gilded inside the cup leaving the outside plain - Spode's stunningly white bone china set off with simple, elegant gilding. As you drank your tea the pattern was revealed and prior to that, if taken without milk, shimmered through the tea. The translucency of the bone china was as important in these fine wares as its whiteness and the sumptuous decoration.

Whilst Curator at Spode I once had a go at painting inside a cup. I found it was actually impossible. Well, obviously not really, but it helped me understand further the skills on a pottery factory and why apprenticeships were so long.

A saucer in pattern 312 is shown at the top of this blogpost. Usually, at this date, only 1 saucer was provided per teacup and coffee cup/can. This worked perfectly as the two drinks were not generally served at the same time and with no well in the saucer it could take the 2 different sizes with no problem. Today (2017) saucer, teacup & coffee cup/can are often put together and described as a 'trio'. The word, though, is not one used in the early 1800s but more of a marketing word to sell antiques, particularly where large tea services have been split up.

Backstamp on teacup pattern 312

Teacup, Bute shape, pattern 319 c1803

Coffee can, Bute shape, gilded tassels, vines & grapes, pattern 329 c1803

Typical Spode handle gilding, pattern 329

Teacup, Bute shape, pattern 330 c1803

Teacup & saucer, Bute shape, sepia & gold, pattern 333 c1803

Backstamp for pattern 333

Coffee can, Bute shape, pattern 499 c1804

Teapot stand, pattern 522 c1804. More HERE>

Teapots were not always provided with a tea service as customers often chose to use a solid silver one. However if a teapot was provided it almost certainly had matching teapot stand.

Coffee can, Bute shape, pattern 555 c1804

Coffee can & saucer, Bute shape, bat printed & gilded, pattern 558 c1804

Coffee can, pattern 558 in more detail

Saucer, pattern 558

I am illustrating pots here but, of course, the pattern records were made on sheets of paper. The patterns were illustrated on various shapes and types of ware. The pattern sheets were later bound into books. There were several copies made but all the sets have not survived. The copies produced were likely to have been: a master copy, a copy for use on the factory and copy for Spode's London business.

On the factory the Spode pattern books were kept secure as they were regarded commercially sensitive. Those which remained at Spode were kept in the Pattern Safe with limited access until the late 1990s. These are the ones now in the Spode archive.

Pattern Safe 2007

Spode and Potters Poppies

Plate, bone china, Potters Poppies, Art Deco design, made 1960-1970

I bought this plate in the lovely market town of Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England in June 2017. The town is famous for its antique shops but my purchase was from a charity (thrift) shop. Those of you who read my blogposts will know straight away that this was to be one of my bargains!

You may not immediately think of the design as Spode but I knew it from a previous encounter and had always liked the pattern. Turning the plate over I found that the style of the Spode backstamp was one used between 1960 and 1970. I had only thought thought of it as an Art Deco design and I've no idea why this piece was made in the 1960s. I think it unlikely it ever went into full production at that date.

Backstamp, with Spode in Gothic-style type, on my Potters Poppies plate

This backstamp tells a little story. *In 1960 the coal fired bottle ovens were fired for the last time at Spode. Bone china was fired in the new Gibbons open-flame gas-fired tunnel kiln of advanced design. Like many of the bottle ovens in the past at Spode this new kiln was given a name: it was called 'Jubilee' to mark the fifty years celebration of the City status of Stoke-on-Trent. This was a new backstamp, with 'Spode' in Gothic-style type, and it distinguished ware fired in this tunnel kiln. It was applied in green. The style of the type was derived from an old Spode backstamp from about 1822. Company stationery and advertising material had already used this Gothic-style logo for many years.

I first saw a plate like this when I was Curator of the Spode Museum. I was selecting items from the museum's huge reserve collection to go on display. Often the emphasis for the displays at Spode were for the oldest pieces in the collection - usually only up to 1833 - when the company name had changed from Spode to Copeland & Garrett.

Potters Poppies in foreground & other Spode 20thC object (sorry about poor photo)

In the late 1990s I wanted to show a greater range of designs from different dates and was looking for objects to represent the mid-20th century. This design was a bit of a surprise. It is very bright and the colours really stand out on Spode's very white bone china. I immediately loved it.

I always remembered the design but didn't come across another piece until 2013 when working with the Ceramics Network at the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery. They had a plate in the same design but on the more decorative Hamburg shape.

Plate, bone china, Hamburg shape, Potters Poppies printed & hand painted, pattern X8340 c1924

This had pattern number X8340 on a paper label on the reverse. Paper labels (and pencil marks) can tell you a lot about a pot so always be careful when washing items as you can lose history in a brief moment of soggy paper. X8340 was first recorded in about 1924 putting the design firmly at the beginning of the Art Deco period. You can find out about Spode's X pattern numbers on my Spode ABC blog by clicking HERE>

Paper label with pattern number on back of the Potteries Museum Potters Poppies plate

The most spectacular version of the Potters Poppies design was produced on bone china, to a very high specification, using the most expensive of decorating techniques, colours and gold. It had pattern number R8460 which was first recorded in c1924.

Dessert plate, bone china, Exeter shape, Potters Poppies pattern R8460 detail from catalogue c1928-1932 

The description of the design, in a catalogue which I have dated to between 1928 and 1932, is detailed and quite lovely:

'Centre - Potters Poppies in crimson, mauve and yellow on a gold cloud within a gold line. Powder blue ground. Rim - gold laurel border coloured in green, spaced with poppy pods and pimpernel. Gold edge.'

I particularly like the 'gold cloud' and the 'poppy pods and pimpernel'. Good marketing blurb!

According to the catalogue, pattern R8460 was offered as dessert ware in Exeter shape, tea & breakfast wares in Ducal shape and coffee ware in Boston shape.

Catalogue page, c1928-1932, Potters Poppies pattern R8460 

This catalogue is interesting in that it has prices which show a massive difference between that for bone china and and that for earthenware patterns. A quick reference (courtesy of the late Robert Copeland) is that bone china was usually about 3 times the price of earthenware. But this catalogue shows that Potters Poppies on bone china, pattern R8460, was about 8 times more expensive than a version on earthenware with pattern number 2/7835. This latter was also made on a range of shapes which you can see detailed on the catalogue page (below).

Catalogue page c1928 for Potters Poppies, pattern 2/7835

The earthenware versions of the Potters Poppies pattern are also recorded in Spode's pattern books all dating from c1924. These include pattern numbers 2/7835 (above), 2/7847 (below) and 2/7853 (no image)

Plate, earthenware, printed & hand painted, Potters Poppies, pattern 2/7847 1928

Backstamps, Potters Poppies, pattern 2/7847 1928

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*Copeland, Robert; 'Spode & Copeland Marks & Other Relevant Intelligence'; Studio Vista; 2nd edition 1997 ISBN 0 289 80069 2

Spode and Sunflower and Convolvulus

Sunflower pattern c1813 (detail)

Spode's Sunflower pattern is my favourite of all the Spode transfer printed designs. It is a gorgeous pattern of intertwining flowers and foliage. At first glance it could be mistaken for a design from the latter part of the 19th century* but is, in fact, a lot older. It dates from about 1813, possibly a little earlier.

The pattern was also referred to as Sunflower and Convolvulus; and, in the 1870s, there is a reference in the Spode archive of it being called Arcadia but I have rarely seen this name used elsewhere.

The beautiful convolvulus flower with its trailing stems was much-loved in various forms on Spode wares in the early 1800s, as well as fashionable to grow. However the name was dropped in the modern era as the plant was later regarded, by some, as an invasive, pernicious weed in the UK. Weeds were not felt suitable to market the reintroduced design in the late 1990s and the pattern is now usually known as simply Sunflower.

Dessert plate (detail), bone china, handpainted convolvulus, pattern 2789 c1819

The pattern was mainly produced in one colour - blue. It was printed underglaze usually on earthenware. The design is known as a 'sheet pattern' which requires only a few engravings to fit all shapes in a tableware, tea, dessert or toilet ware service as the design covers the whole surface of the object and doesn't have to be 'fitted'.

Roller printing Sunflower pattern in blue, (brown colour is cobalt blue before firing), no date, TCC image gallery

Tablewares were made in this pattern in the early 1800s including large serving pieces. The large dish with a removable drainer (illustrated) could be used without its drainer to serve a roasted meat joint, when the juices were required. To serve something boiled or steamed, such as a whole fish, when the juices were not required, then the drainer could be put in place and the unwanted juices would drain into the dish below.

The hole in the middle of the drainer is for a finger. This makes fitting the drainer into the dish, and removal from it, easy to do, particularly if it was a tight fit.

Earthenware dish & removable drainer Sunflower pattern c1813

Earthenware dish with its drainer removed Sunflower pattern c1813

Other versions of the pattern are recorded in the pattern books in the Spode archive but pieces of these variations are rare.

Pattern 1931 of about 1813 is particularly stunning with a gold background to the pattern. Thank you to Judie Siddall and her Dishy News blog for helping me with images of this version of the pattern.

Sunflower, pattern 1931 c1813 Transferware Collectors Club

3 pieces of Sunflower, pattern 1931 c1813(private collection)

My favourite version of the pattern is one I have never seen other than its record on paper in the pattern books. It has pattern number 1864 again of about 1813. So without a piece all I can do it describe it for you.

The design for pattern 1864 is unchanged and is printed underglaze in blue from the same engraved copper plate or roller as the plain version. But then the fun begins! The whole pattern is handpainted overglaze in vivid, natural colours.

The sunflowers are in a perfect deep, strong yellow with brown centres for their seeds; the convolvulus flowers are painted pale blue fading to white at their tips, with green for their yet-to-unfurl buds; the same green is used for all the leaves. What makes it so striking is that the background, (gold in pattern number 1931), in this multi-coloured version is red. If you see a piece you won't miss it. And if you see a piece - I need to know!

The stunning effect of adding handpainted colour to a blue printed Spode pattern can be seen in the illustration here of a pattern call Group. Filling in the 'white space' around a printed pattern, as in this case of Group, is known as clobbering. Experts disagree about the exact definition of this word in relation to ceramics but this is the one I was taught many years ago by a reliable source.

Plate, earthenware, printed in blue Group pattern c1809

Plate, earthenware, printed & handpainted (clobbered), Group pattern 1589 c1811

Introduced around 1813 Sunflower pattern seems to have been made perhaps mostly in the early part of the 1800s but no exact details of it dates of production are recorded.

However, as part of The Spode Blue Room Collection it was reintroduced on earthenware in the 1990s. It had pattern number S3464 and was produced as tableware and giftware items. It was withdrawn in 2000.

Sunflower was also adapted as a border design in cobalt blue and gold for a bone china pattern called Brocade Cobalt. This was introduced in 1996 and had pattern number Y8603. It was made as large service plates only. It was not a commercial success.

Teapot, earthenware, 2000

Teapot backstamp 

Cups & saucers, earthenware c1990-2000

Cups & saucers backstamp c1990-2000

Dessert plate, bone china, pink with gilded edge c2000

Dessert plate backstamp

Dessert plate, bone china, pale blue with gilded edge c2000

Service plate (detail) bone china, Brocade Cobalt, pattern number Y8603 1996

Service plate backstamp

*For a good read about the sunflower motif in design (but unconnected to Spode) got to Jeckyll and the Sunflower which is on the blog Colonel Unthank's Norwich.