Antique Brown-Westhead Moore Canova Transferware Bird Plate
Age / Period:
Late 19th century, circa 1870s–1880s
Origin / Source:
Made at Cauldon, Staffordshire, England; retailed in Paris through E. Bourgeois, Le Grand Dépôt, 21 Rue Drouot. Sourced in Paris.
Measurements:
Approximately 9.75” across at the shortest point × 10.125” from point to opposing angle
Material:
Transfer-printed earthenware
Maker / Markings / Provenance:
Brown-Westhead, Moore & Co., Cauldon Works, Staffordshire, England.
Canova pattern.
The reverse bears the Cauldon England / Canova backstamp with Copyright Déposé and the number 11, together with the blue retailer’s mark for E. Bourgeois, Le Grand Dépôt, 21 Rue Drouot, Paris.
The survival of both the English maker/pattern mark and the Paris retailer’s mark gives this example an unusually specific manufacturing and retail history.
Description:
An antique Brown-Westhead, Moore & Co. Canova transferware plate with a softly octagonal form and a striking dark blue naturalistic design on a warm ivory ground.
The central composition depicts a bird perched among tall mushrooms, grasses, insects, and small flowering plants. Rather than the repeating floral border more commonly associated with transferware, the decoration reads almost like a natural-history study, with the asymmetry and close observation of the natural world associated with late 19th-century Aesthetic design.
The form is equally good. Its gently faceted, almost architectural edge gives the plate a stronger silhouette than a conventional round plate, while the open ivory ground allows the finely rendered bird and botanical imagery to remain the focus.
The reverse is an important part of this particular piece. In addition to the Canova / Cauldon mark, it retains the E. Bourgeois stamp from Le Grand Dépôt in Paris. Together, these marks document an English Staffordshire ceramic made at Cauldon and sold through the Paris market.
The aged surface is beautifully preserved, with overall crazing, mellow staining, subtle glaze variation, and scattered blue flecking visible on the reverse.
Condition:
Good antique condition with age-related crazing, mellow staining, surface wear, and glaze irregularities throughout.
There is one small visible line that does not appear to extend through the plate. Blue flecking and areas of age-related discoloration are visible on the reverse.
Please review the photographs carefully, particularly the detailed images of the surface, reverse, and backstamps.
Historical or Decorative Notes:
Brown-Westhead, Moore & Co. was a prominent 19th-century Staffordshire pottery manufacturer associated with the Cauldon Works.
The Canova pattern belongs to the richly naturalistic decorative vocabulary of the late Victorian period. Birds, insects, fungi, grasses, and botanical subjects became especially important within Aesthetic Movement design, where decoration often moved away from strict symmetry and toward more artful studies of the natural world.
This example is particularly interesting because it retains a second mark for E. Bourgeois, Le Grand Dépôt in Paris. Rather than identifying only its manufacturer and pattern, the reverse also preserves evidence of the commercial journey of the piece from an English pottery to a Parisian retailer.
That combination of named pattern, identifiable Staffordshire maker, distinctive octagonal form, unusual naturalistic decoration, and surviving Paris retailer mark makes the plate a particularly well-documented example of late 19th-century transferware.
Use & Styling:
Strong enough to display on its own, particularly on a plate wall, in a china cabinet, or on open shelving where the bird and mushroom composition can be seen clearly.
Its deep blue transfer, warm ivory ground, and natural-history imagery also layer beautifully with antique linens, old wood, ironstone, botanical works, and other collected objects.
