Page 64

 
510. DISH 
Staffordshire 
1727-1760 
H,: 2" (5.1 cm); 
Diam.: 111/2" (29.2 cm) 
BODY CLAY: Medium-grained dark 
buff with inclusions. 
LEAD GLAZE: Overall on interior. 
SHAPE: Press-molded. Rim serrated by 
impressing with small, rounded tool. 
Shape A, 
SLIP GROUND: Cream-colored. 
Overall on interior, 
DECORATION: Relief-molded and 
trailed. George II in ceremonial garb with 
scepter and Order of the Star and Garter. 
Inscribed "GR2.'' Oval frame bordered by 
thistles and carnation(?) vines. 
   George II may be the last monarch whose portrait is included on English
slip-decorated earthenware; later royalty are depicted on delftware (see
no. D57). 
Waist-length portraits of the king are found on at least two other relief
dish 
models. One is inscribed "GR2" and the other "GR II";
both include sunray bor- 
ders, in eftect portraying George as an English "sun king."' A
fill-length por- 
trait of George II and the inscription "GR11R" are found on a delftware
"blue dash 
charger" in the Longridge collection (no. D50). 
    Fragments of a relief-imolded dish initialed "GR," perhaps
for George I (reign 
 1714-1727), show a waist-length portrait of a king and were excavated from
 the cellar of the Old Hall at Temple Balsall, Warwickshire.2 Flowering vines
 form the filler ornament and border motifs. Interestingly, the interior
of the 
 dish is covered in combing (somewhat like that on Longridge dish no. S38)
that 
 in no way reflects the raised pattern. Assuming such a relief subject would
not 
 have been obliterated during George I's reign, the mold may have been used
 later for its shape only. On one uninscribed relief dish, a bust of an uncrowned
 male in an early style wig is shown within a border of tulips, birds, and
a dog., 
 The figure may represent George I or II or another then-recognizable popular
 figure. "GR" initialed relief dishes with kings on horseback relate
in design to 
 some dishes depicting Saint George (see no. S15). 
 1. Cooper, Slipware Dishes, pl. 247; Rackhamn, 
Glaisher. vol. 1, no, 196. 
2. Gooder, Temple Balsall, fig. 28, no, 219. 
3. Tan, Malkin, pt. 2, p. 49, fig. 4. 
64 The Longridge Collection