While alphabet wares seem to have been viewed as casually as other souvenir and children's...

While alphabet wares seem to have been viewed as casually as other souvenir and children's ceramics, the Brownhills potters approached their wares with an eye to making them fashionably artistic in the eyes of their late 19th century consumers.     

All of the Brownhills ABC series are decorated in brown transfer against an ivory body often enhanced with additional enamel highlights.. 

The "Nations of the World"series features a circular framed view emblematic of the country represented.  In this instance, a seated man is approached by a tall, statuesque woman carrying a parasol.   The man's robes are highlighted in lapis blue while his consort is arrayed in a golden ochre robe trimmed with a broad mauve border.    

The prominent feature of the Brownhills' "Nations" series is the asymmetrical placement of the circular device framing the national tableau and the alphabet which fills the balance of the plate.  The circular frame is decorated with fretwork and inscriptions identifying the series, "Nations" and nation, "Japanese."  The balance of the plate is covered by a diaper pattern field displaying the alphabet.   

The craze for all things Japanese in the latter decades of the 19th Century was not limite...

The craze for all things Japanese in the latter decades of the 19th Century was not limited to an adult audience. Little Neville in the nursery could simultaneously learn his A-B-C's, refine his young tastes, and develop an affinity for modish tablewares.

Quite apart from the choice of "Japan" as one subject in Brownhill's "Nations of the World," the off-center, asymmetrical composition illustrates the prominent influence of "Japanism" to be detected in a number of the pottery's alphabet series.