Early Dudson Brown Stoneware Cheese Dish, c. 1850's

Description

This brown stoneware cheese dish is sprigged in white jasperware with classical figures whose attributes suggest they are muses. But these are not the images of the muses fashioned by sculptor John Flaxman junior for Wedgwood in the late 1780s that later appear on Dudson cheese dishes from the 1860s onward.
Actually, this cheese dish is entirely unmarked. None of Dudson's cheese dishes were signed during the ownership of James Dudson (1845-1880). However, they are usually identifiable by a distinctive hand-inscribed decorator's numerical code that indicated to the workman which sprigs to apply to the molded body. This is absent here, suggesting that this dish dates from before this code evolved.
The only indicator of the maker is the presence of garlands of naturalistic oak-and-acorn borders on both the shoulder of the dome and the skirt of the stand. This particular Dudson border design appears in two sizes, and appears to be devised by James Dudson himself, who often served as his own modeler. It is not known to have been used by any other manufacturer. This is the smaller version.
This cheese dish stands 8-1/2” tall overall. The dome is 4-3/4” high with a 1-3/4” acorn finial and is 9” in diameter. The base plate is 10-3/4” in diameter and 2” high. There are two inconspicuous chips on the stand--one on the outside edge and another underneath. Otherwise, the condition is very good, with no cracks, scratches, or repairs.
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