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DELFTWARE Dining and Related Wares 
               Dishes and Plates 
European Nautical Scenes 
D98. PLATE 
Probably Bristol 
Dated 1752 
H.: 1" (2.5 cm); Diam.: 8 3/4" (22.2 cm) 
BODY CLAY: Fine-grained pale buff. 
TIN GLAZE: Bluish white, slightly 
translucent. 
SHAPE: Molded. Shape L with slightly 
more rounded exterior of rim and well. 
DECORATION: Painted. Fully rigged 
ship with lion(?) figurehead and seven 
guns. Inscribed "Diadem" under foliate 
scrolls. Border composed of a circle. 
Center of exterior inscribed "Francis 
Gott/1752." 
Published: Morley-Fletcher and Mcllroy, 
Pictorial History, p. 234, no. 4; Horne, 
Collection, pt. 17, no. 489 
Ex call.: W A, H. Harding. 
As yet the identity of "Francis Gott," probably the original owner
of this 
and a virtually identical plate, remains unknown, nor is there a record of
a Diadem 
in the British Royal Navy until 1782. The 1764 Lloyd's register does include
a 
reference to a Diadem that was built in France in 1750 and armed with fourteen
guns. Possibly the two vessels are one and the same, with the French ship
per- 
haps having been captured by the British.' (One of the flags may be a Union
Jack.) Alternatively, the plates could have been made in England for the
owner 
of a foreign ship (see nos. D99, D100). Ships sailing to the right on delftware
are 
less common than ships sailing in the opposite direction (see nos. D99, D100,
D314, D318). A punch bowl in the Longridge collection (no. D318) also shows
its 
(interior) ship scene nested on scrollwork. 
1. Archer, V&A, no. B3.237, stating tihe central 
mast's pennant probably indicates the ship was 
a privateer: also lipski and Archer, Dated Delft- 
ware, no. 556. IHorne comments iSept ember 
1998): It this were a French ship, considering 
the hostilities hetween the two countries, it is 
mnore likely to have been taken as a prize than 
plurchase'd 
The Longridge Collection 133