Among the most admired aspects of Victorian ceramic design is the tradition of highly stylized, semi-geometric motifs derived quite recognizably from elements of nature. The strain begins with Pugin and continues with Christopher Dresser and the other leading Aesthetic Movement designers, providing a counterpoint to decorations picked up from Japanese and other foreign sources. Brownfield's "Stella" ranks with the most charming and original of these patterns.

The center of the plate is blank, allowing all attention to be directed to the crisply printed border. Whimsical ducks face each other across a semi-circular rising sun or half blossom motif. A cattail rises behind each duck, separating the design units. Each element relates to the whole in an abstract way, yet each element retains all the appeal of its source in nature.

The blue transfer bone china body with its touches of gilt would have made a more formal impression than the transfer decorated earthenwares for everyday use.

This pattern is generally attributed to Christopher Dresser. However, Henry Lyons in Christopher Dresser, The People's Designer, 1834-1904, (pp. 85-87, plate 112) urges caution attributing any Brownfield design to Dresser as E.W. Godwin worked for the pottery at the same period creating a significant potential for confusion. In either case, the pattern must rank high for any connoisseur of aesthetic transfer.