SPODE

Pre-owned Regency Neo-classical Greek Pattern Blue Dinner Plates- Thirty One Plates

Extensive Set of Thirty-One Spode "Greek” Pattern Blue Transfer-Printed Dinner Plates Spode, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, circa 1806–1820 An impressive and extensive service of thirty-one dinner plates in Spode’s celebrated "Greek” pattern, one of the most ambitious and historically significant blue transfer-printed designs produced during the English Regency period. Each plate is transfer-printed in a rich cobalt blue on a finely potted earthenware body, the bold two-tone ground achieved by printing the design in a deep, saturated blue with the reserve figures appearing in a lighter wash blue against the dark field, a technique that gives the pattern its distinctive cameo-like quality. The central roundel of each plate presents the scene known as "Zeus in His Chariot”: the King of the Olympian gods, depicted as a powerfully built, semi-draped male figure, urges forward a magnificent quadriga—a four-horse chariot—at full gallop, a thunderbolt raised in his extended right hand. The horses are rendered with considerable energy and anatomical confidence, their manes streaming, the harness and wheel spoke-work rendered in meticulous detail. The composition conveys the full dynamism of antique relief carving, the figures resolving convincingly within the circular field. The broad, intricately articulated border is divided into four large shaped reserves and four smaller interspersed cartouches, alternating with a ground of dense stylised floral diaper—small four-petalled flowers repeated across the dark blue field in a manner derived from Greek textile patterns. The four principal border panels each enclose a distinct Neoclassical scene: a procession of draped female figures before a columned altar; a warrior or hero in classical armour with a circular shield bearing a Pegasus device; a winged Nike or Victory figure in flight; and a sacrificial or ceremonial scene at a tripod altar. Between these, four smaller architectural or ornamental reserv