Spode Geranium

Last Monday, I was perusing the clearance section of one of my favorite outlets for new Spode, which happens to be called Tuesday Morning, and stumbled upon this beautiful dish.

I had seen it in the store before the quarantine, and had wanted to buy it, but it was $43 so I decided to wait until it went on clearance. (And I was so glad I had waited!) 

This particular pattern is one of my favorites, partially due to the lovely geometric border around the dishes. It is striking, and quite different than the borders on the other Spode patterns I have seen, so I decided to do some research and see if I could find out the history of the pattern. 

Here's what I found out. 

The Geranium pattern was first introduced in 1820. This fact is probably not new to anyone who has looked at the back-marking of a new piece Geranium patterned Spode, but what you might not have realized is that this pattern is, in fact, quite different from anything that Spode had produced up to that point. Before 1820, Spode produced may patterns, ranging from the Chinese "Willow" pattern and the vastly popular and prolific "Blue Italian",  to the more obscure "Caramanian" and "Tiber" patterns. 

From what I have been able to find, all the previous patterns have been scenic in nature. Even the Indian pattern of 1815 features  large, sprawling bush, set on a small patch of grass. The simplicity of the geranium sprig, and the clean, almost modern lines of the geometric border are strikingly different. In his book Antique Blue and White Spode, Sydney B. Williams agrees that this pattern "has an entirely contrasting appearance to all those which preceded it."*

Perhaps this is why it is one of the designs Spode has decided to manufacture again. To be honest, I have never found an old piece of Geranium, but I do have several pieces of new Spode Geranium in my collection.

Pictured above are my new purchase, which I must admit I don't know what to call... (If you happen to know what this dish is called, please leave a comment below!) my Pasta Bowl in the front, and then of course there are two spice jars. 

Interestingly, as I put all my Geranium pieces side-by-side, I noticed that they are not all the same. I knew that some Spode collections, like the Caramanian and Zoological collections, have different pictures on each plate, but I was startled to see that this pattern had two distinct types. 

My recent purchase as well as the "Mixed Herb" jar, feature the same basic geranium, but in much darker shades of blue. The Pasta Bowl and the "Rosemary" jar are so much lighter, I thought they were different flowers at first.

The borders also are different, although if you look closely, it is mostly a matter of scale: The darker two pieces have the same design elements, just smaller and closer together. In the lighter pieces, the shapes are stretched out, and not condensed like the others. 

From the back markings and some additional research, I think the most recent generation of Spode Geranium is the darker style, while the other is older, but not significantly. All the Geranium pieces in my collection are marked dishwasher and microwave safe, which means they are quite recent.  

*p. 182