Unnamed (Bunched Foliage)

Spoon rest, 8.75 x 5.875 x 1.5 inches. This pattern is part of an unnamed series featuring groupings of flowers, foliage, and fruit by Thomas Furnival & Sons. Here there are three groups, the largest of which features foxgloves and perhaps lilacs. The other two groups feature berries and bluebell-type flowers.

Following involvement in previous partnerships, from 1851 Jacob and Thomas Furnival became partners at J & T Furnival. As well as earthenware manufacturers, they were in business as Grinders of Potters’ Materials at Etruria Vale, in the borough of Hanley. In 1859 Jacob Furnival, Thomas Furnival, and Francis Joseph Emery applied for a patent for “Improvements in apparatus for supporting articles of china and earthenware in kilns and ovens.” In May 1864 the partnership between Jacob and Thomas Furnival was dissolved and the business was continued by Thomas Furnival. Around 1871, Thomas Furnival the younger joined the business which became Thomas Furnival and Son. In 1876, another son, Samuel Bourne Furnival joined the business, which became Thomas Furnival and Sons. Around 1883 the company found itself in financial difficulty with liabilities of £60,000 (around £5 million in 2020 terms). In 1884 there was a notice of “Liquidation by Agreement” which allowed the company to trade out of its difficulties. Thomas Furnival Sr. retired in 1890 and the business was continued by his sons Thomas, Samuel, and Arthur. The style of the business became Furnivals.