James Kent works were located at the Old Foley Pottery, Stoke-On-Trent. At times, townships of the surrounding area appeared on their products, this plate has one such town on the backstamp - FENTON.
The backstamp clearly indentifies this piece as coming from the works during the period 1936 ~ 1945, after this year the wording changed to Made in England
This cake side plate IS part of a complete set we USED to have of the same design, split up as we felt the individual pieces may be of more interest to someone - look HERE to see another piece of this same design
DLAT Rating 9/10 !!! (Darling Look At This!)
JAMES KENT - Side Cake Plate ONLY
Made in Great Britain
Circa period Mid 1936 ~ 1945
Octagonal shape
Width (it is a little hard to judge from the photograph) is 165mm side to side
Fine China
Opaque china, meaning that you cannot see through the china when held to the light
Handpainted but also some transferware
The outer two border patterns look to be transferware, they are just far too "machine like" in appearance to have been produced by hand
HOWEVER
the floral design (one on each side of the plate) is definitely hand created.
Hand gold gilding to the Octagonal shaped plate.
Quality of workmanship is very high with just a few "differences" between the designs and within the design, it is hand made after all.
The design comprises an assortment of Spring flowers (Yellow, White, Red, Purple & Blues) with foliage - a "cheerful" plate, particularly in those troubled times - this was the War Years (WWII) after all!
BACKSTAMP DETAILS:
Black backstamp design, printed
Shield with a Crown atop (graphic)
JAMES KENT (arched)
LTD.
FENTON
MADE IN (Down one side of the shield)
GREAT BRITAIN (Up one side of the shield)
2053 (Probably the pattern number but I cannot find any confirmation of this)
The back stamp is accompanied by the artist markings in Green/Black
COSMETIC CONDITION:
Let's be realistic here, nothing is perfect after 85 years, I have examined the cake side plate(s) VERY CAREFULLY and noticed the following ...
I have two available and BOTH are in the condition described below.
CLEAN
NO cracks
NO discolouration to the china base material
NO discolouration to the artist's painting
NO damage nor wear showing to the double row border pattern
NO fleabites to the underside
NO crazing can be observed top and bottom, held to sunlight and wet tested - still nothing. I do notice that BOTH of these side plates have a heavier glaze applied (you can even see where it has flowed on the underside) and perhaps this is why crazing has not occurred yet. Crazing WILL occur one day, it's all a matter of time and how the china has been stored but at the moment, very nice indeed.
In summary, this cake side plate is in very good condition after all these years (think of all the world events that have passed since these were made) a nice example of James Kent and perfectly suitable for a special occasion such as "High Tea" (A very "proper" and civil, quaint English dining custom)
