Dianthus

Plate, 10.5 inches diameter. Brown transfer with polychrome clobbering. Printed maker's mark for the Old Hall Earthenware Co. Ltd. The registry diamond indicates a pattern registration date of 7 April 1881. This pattern features an ornate and highly stylized roundel of dianthus flowers in the well and the same pattern in a wide band around the rim.

The Old Hall Earthenware Co. was an English pottery established in the Staffordshire town of Hanley in 1805 by Job Meigh (d 1817). It was successively known as Job Meigh (1805–12), Job Meigh & Son (1812–34), Charles Meigh (1834–49), C. Meigh, Son & Pankhurst (1850–51), Charles Meigh & Son (1851–61), Old Hall Earthenware Co. Ltd (1861–86) and Old Hall Porcelain Works Ltd (1886–1902). In March 1861 Charles Meigh Jr. transferred the business to a limited liability company called the Old Hall Earthenware Co Ltd. This was the first limited liability company in the Staffordshire Potteries. In the 1880s the designers included Christopher Dresser. The pottery closed in 1902 and the Old Hall Works was demolished in 1904.