Grey Black Fontaine's Aesops Fables ~ Cat & Rooster Soup Plate 1880

Grey Black Fontaine's Aesops Fables ~ Cat & Rooster Soup Plate 1880

Code: 11161

$150.00 free shipping to USA
 

Rare Earthenware Aesthetic Movement Soup Plate

Fontaine / Aesops Fables ~ CAT & ROOSTER

Brown Westhead and Moore Potteries

Staffordshire England ~ c. 1880

This is a superb and quite scare large transferware plate registered around 1880. The plate measures 10 1/4 " in diameter. The plate is finely potted. The decoration is based on a woodcut etching from the highly coveted Nature series made by Brown Westhead and Moore, most commonly found on architectural tiles. It is transfer printed in grey black.

The central image features the dilemma between the Cat and the crowing Rooster.

The fable:

The Cat and the Rooster

A Cat caught a Rooster, and pondered how he might find a reasonable excuse for eating the Rooster.  The Cat accused the Rooster of being a nuisance to people by crowing in the night time and not permitting them to sleep. The Rooster defended himself by saying that he did this for the benefit of people, that they might rise in time for work.  The Cat replied, “Although you have many excuses, I shall not remain supperless”; and he made a meal of him.

The plate is in great condition, clean bright and shiny with no chips, cracks, hairlines or repairs.