Collectible Tobacciana / Catchall Dish, Brown & Richie, Oriental Gardens, Polychrome Transferware, Staffordshire, Antique 1920s–1930s

A technique abandoned nearly a century ago. A pattern that survived it.

• Maker: Brown & Richie Ltd
• Pattern: Oriental Gardens — polychrome transferware, hand-colored underglaze
• Material: Earthenware
• Dimensions: 4.25" × 3.25" | two indentations
• Era: Antique, circa 1920s–1930s
• Origin: Staffordshire, England, made in Japan
• Condition: Antique used, very good. Crazing throughout, consistent with age and typical of early 20th century earthenware glaze. Please review photos closely before purchasing, as all sales are final.

A wonderful addition to a transferware collection, a chinoiserie interior, or any home that appreciates the beauty of genuinely antique hand-crafted ceramics.

This is an antique polychrome transferware piece in the Oriental Gardens pattern by Brown & Richie of Staffordshire, England — hand-colored underglaze in translucent pink, green, yellow, and blue. Made in Japan for Brown & Richie. The Oriental Gardens pattern is a polychrome variation on the beloved Blue Willow tradition — the same sweeping chinoiserie scenery, the same pagodas and bridges and blossoming trees, rendered here in multiple colors rather than the classic single-tone blue. Polychrome transferware was an expensive, labor-intensive process, combining machine-printed scenic transfers with hand-applied color washes in multiple underglaze tints. By the 1930s the process had been largely abandoned in favor of more cost-effective single-color production, making these pieces genuinely rare survivors of a technique that no longer exists. Brown & Richie Ltd was a small Staffordshire pottery that specialized in polychrome scenic and Oriental pattern transferware — not prolific, not widely documented, which is precisely what makes their pieces desirable to serious collectors of English earthenware. The piece retains its original Japan paper sticker; no backstamp, as was common with this type of export ware.

Two available. Browse our shop for more transferware and chinoiserie pieces to round out your collection.