Antique Staffordshire Pearlware Cheese Dome & Plate – 19th Century Floral Cheese Cloche

A beautiful and increasingly difficult-to-find piece of 19th-century English kitchen and tableware, this wonderful antique cheese dome and matching plate is believed to be of Staffordshire origin and dates from the Victorian period.

The first thing that catches the eye is the extraordinary decoration and it's beautiful pale blue background colour typical of 1800's Staffordshire Pearlware.

Rich cobalt-blue flowers, leaves and scrolling foliage sweep across the domed cover, continuing beautifully onto the matching circular plate beneath. Rather than a stark white ceramic, the pottery has a wonderfully subtle pale blue-grey ground, giving the piece a softness and depth that becomes particularly apparent when viewed in natural light.

A deep cobalt-blue finial completes the dome.

It also has a kiln firing scar in the middle of the underneath of the plate.

At approximately 20cm wide and 17cm tall, it has wonderful presence without being excessively large, making it an especially attractive piece for displaying on an old dresser, kitchen shelf, sideboard or dining table.

Dimensions

Diameter: approximately 20cm
Overall height: approximately 17cm

A Little History

This piece is believed to be 19th-century English earthenware, probably Staffordshire, with characteristics associated with the blue-and-white pottery produced by the great Staffordshire potteries during the period.

The pale bluish cast to the ceramic is particularly interesting and is reminiscent of the earlier pearlware tradition, in which cobalt was incorporated into the glaze to produce a cooler, subtly blue appearance.

The underside also retains a distinctive firing or kiln contact scar – an irregularity created during manufacture rather than something we would attempt to disguise. For us, details such as this are part of the fascination of early pottery and provide a tangible reminder of how these pieces were made.

The piece is unmarked, so we have deliberately not attributed it to a particular factory or maker.

Why We Like It

There is something wonderfully romantic about an object that has survived for well over a century and still looks this good.

But it's the decoration that really makes this one special.

Those enormous cobalt flowers aren't restrained or delicate – they're wonderfully confident, covering almost the entire dome before spilling visually onto the plate underneath.

Then there's the colour of the pottery itself.

Look beyond the dark blue decoration and you'll see that the background isn't brilliant modern white, but a much softer pale blue, which gives the whole piece a wonderfully mellow appearance.

And turn the plate over and you'll find the firing scar underneath – one of those little manufacturing details that we love finding on genuinely old pottery.

How We Would Style It

This is exactly the sort of antique we'd leave permanently on display.

It would look wonderful on an old pine dresser surrounded by stoneware pots and wooden boards, or sitting on a kitchen table with antique linens, glassware and collected blue-and-white ceramics.

Of course, its original purpose was considerably more practical.

Cheese dishes such as this were designed to bring cheese to the table beneath their decorative covers. Today, we'd be equally happy using it as an impressive table centrepiece or simply enjoying it as a piece of antique decorative pottery.

Its blue and white palette makes it particularly suited to French country, English country, farmhouse, cottage and traditional interiors.

Condition & Character

As an antique piece of considerable age, there are signs of its history and manufacture.

The underside displays a distinctive kiln/firing contact scar, together with variations in the glaze associated with manufacture.

These characteristics are part of the individuality of an early piece rather than the uniform finish associated with modern factory-made ceramics.

There are no chips or cracks and it is in perfect antique condition

From the Brocante Trail

Some antiques make you wonder how many tables they've already sat upon.
This is one of them.

Made during the 19th century, this cheese dome belongs to an age when even something as everyday as serving cheese could warrant a beautifully decorated piece of pottery.

More than a century later, those extraordinary cobalt flowers remain just as striking.

We'd place it on an old kitchen dresser where the light can catch that subtly blue glaze – although we'd be very tempted to bring it back to the table with a good piece of cheese underneath.

Every treasure has a story. This one found us on the Brocante trail. Now it’s waiting to become part of yours!