An Early Doccia Blue And White Hard Paste Plate C1745

A rare blue and white hard-paste soup plate, decorated in the centre with a thorny rose. Within Chinese-inspired borders and a brown dressed rim. The reverse with simple floral sprays. Doccia, Italy C1745.

Condition; 2.7cm hairline crack in the rim, two tokens to the foot.

Provenance; Watney Collection. The rose decoration dates back to early 18th-century European prints. See the Victoria and Albert Museum for a lobed dish with the same pattern, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O278560/plate-doccia-porcelain-factory/?carousel-image=2010EB1550. In an inventory drawn up in 1757 at Doccia after the death of the Marquis Carlo Ginori, the pattern was defined as "alla rosa blu". Or "alla rosa canina", with a blue rose or with a wild rose.