Crisp black transfer printing and careful execution of this ironstone soup bowl clearly reveal the rich and varied detail of Masons "Scroll" pattern.  A large scroll, depicting a seated Chinese personage of high status and his attendants, unfurls boldly filling most of the well of the bowl and lapping up on to the flange in this early Masons Ironstone pattern. Too great in scale to be contained by the conventional border used for most tableware, the scroll sits upon a continuous patterned ground with only a thin band at the plate's edge. Flowers are scattered over the flange of the bowl, some of a surprisingly European style and all conveying an unmistakable freshness. Oval reserves at the top and bottom return to the Asian tradition with traditional groups of objects.

A variety of soft, almost pastel, enamel tones, with dominant elements in pink, balance the black transfer patterned ground and prevent any sense of disharmony or harshness.

The Masons seem to have been constantly on the lookout for patterns they could offer on their ironstone body. While the obvious influence on the "Scroll" pattern is the export porcelain which had been prized in Britain for generations, a closer source is Worcester's adaptation of oriental scholar and family groups among their eighteenth century porcelain offerings -- often featuring the tall stand which appears in the Masons version.