HISTORY & NOTES:
Johnson Brothers began their pottery in 1883 and became one of the major high quality works in England, eventually (in 1968) becoming part of the Wedgwood Group of companies.
This chinaware (semi porcelain) is yet another of our beautiful "breakfast & afternoon tea" sets which were passed down to us through the generations, originally purchased in the 1950's, just after "The War" by my parents living in England at the time.
The second world war had just been "finished with" and people were looking for things to make them feel good, brighten up their lives after all the trauma fighting with the "Huns" (a carry over expression from the Brit description of the "foe" in World War I)
"Cherry Blossoms" was a perfect pattern back then, representing "new life, new opportunities"
Since those days 70 years ago we used this chinaware just a few times for those "special occasions", particularly around Springtime and the condition of the pieces reflects this ... they have been well cared for and seen very little use!
These bowls have only been used for cold cereals with fruit or as a desert bowl, vanilla ice-cream with fresh lime juice - yummy!
Our family have always called these the "Cherry Blossoms" although that pattern name is not on any of the pieces, there is no pattern indicated on any piece except the egg cup saucers which are quite frankly a bit of a mystery to us ... read my description specific to the egg cup set HEREfor details about this mystery!
One of the major china replacement suppliers does show this pattern (no longer available alas) and indicate it is what they call pattern number JB734. We think this is THEIR pattern code and not that of Johnson Brothers.
If you would like to take a look at the "replacements" website, please go HERE
ALL decoration (artwork and gilding) is handcrafted with no transfers used at all
This advertisement is for the CEREAL OR DESERT BOWL .... but HERE you can see a selection of the other pieces that we have left
DLAT RATING: 9/10 (Darling, Look At This!)
JOHNSON BROTHERS - Cold Cereal/Desert Bowl ONLY
Made In England
DIMENSIONS:
Shape: Round with stepped top rim
Diameter: 164mm
Height: 38mm
Pattern: Cherry Blossoms (JB734)
Weight: 250g
GENUINE and ORIGINAL
Hand decorated/painted - this is an original creation with the artist and gilder markings clearly visible on the underside of the base. Don't be fooled by replacements using transferware techniques, these originals have become quite collectable and "rip offs" abound because the counterfeiter can make good money
Circa 1940's ~ 1950's
Opaque (meaning that when held to the light, you CANNOT see shadows of your hand through the china) This is not "fine bone china" but nor is it "stoneware" and Johnson Brothers used to call this their "semi-porcelain"
Two tone base colouring - Natural Cream colour and a light Grey colouring with a slightly darker Grey band between the two colours. This two-tone finish is only on the inside of the bowl (band) and the underside is completely Cream.
The artwork spans both areas of colour.
Cherry Blossom (OUR pattern name as it is not indicated on the piece) is a pattern dominated by a motif of gentle Pink blossom flowers with fresh Green leaves on a Brown tree branch. There are three separate pieces of artwork, one is dominant with the other two being smaller designs.
Gold gilding (heavily applied by hand) is around the top scalloped rim only, classy but not gaudy!
BACKSTAMP DETAILS:
Green/Blue stamp with artist and gilder's markings
COSMETIC CONDITION:
We currently have six bowls, the following information relates to ALL bowls and any flaws I have noticed are noted after this main report
NO cracks
NO chips
NO discolouration to the artwork
NO crazing observed (both wet and dry tests)
NO artwork damage/scratching or significant wear
NO wear or damage observed to the Gold gilding at all - very nice!
But nothing that is over 70 years old is perfect! (Not even my Mum at 86 years old!)
I noticed on three bowls (top side) there were a couple of little "dots" but these appear to be UNDER the glaze, as though the clay was contaminated at the works.
Two bowls do have small, clean fleabites on the underside. One bowl has just one fleabite and the other bowl has two. None of these fleabites have become discoloured.
SPECIAL INFORMATION:
We have a number of different pieces of our Cherry Blossom pattern available. Each piece is advertised separately BUT if purchasing more than one, and total order value conditions are met, discounted prices apply automatically when the code CHERRYBLOSSOM is used in the checkout area of the website.
