A softly scalloped square dessert dish potted in an unusually refined white stoneware body...

A softly scalloped square dessert dish potted in an unusually refined white stoneware body is ornamented along each side and at the corners with a low relief of flowers and foliage. The main show, however, is a fruiting sprig with pink flowers painted in an unexpectedly bold and free manner across the well of the dish. On the back is the carefully lettered label "Almond Tree," identifying the botanical decoration and associating it with the strong British naturalist tradition.

Without access to handling a piece, the visual aspects can be deceiving. Photos of  t...

Without access to handling a piece, the visual aspects can be deceiving. Photos of  the handpainted botanical decoration on the white surface suggest creamware, where such decoration is not so uncommon. Handling the dish, however, reveals it as denser, more highly fired stoneware--on which this sort of decoration is much more rare. The sprig-type relief ornaments, however, link us once again to the stoneware realm. 

Alwyn and Angela Cox in Rockingham 1745-1842  discuss and illustrate pearlware and chalkware pieces which may relate to this piece.  Like this piece, the Rockingham potters used a combination of sprigwork around the edge of their pieces to set off a central botanical study.  The Rockingham studies are identified in either Latin or English -- as in this instance.