Blue Rocks & Blossom

Carlton Ware's Blue Rocks & Blossom pattern and its Border

Below is an image of a Carlton Ware bowl decorated with Horace Wain's
Blue Rocks & Blossom pattern, which was allocated the number 2446.
As you can see below, it was printed in blue on a white ground and decorated in coloured enamels. Much like many of the young designer's patterns, it was either copied from or inspired by seventeenth or eighteenth century Chinese ceramics or other makers copies of the Chinese. Big fleas have little fleas....

According to Carlton Ware's pattern records there was only the one version of this pattern. It must have been amongst the last of Wain's designs for the pottery before he left the Carlton Works around 1921. To date, all examples have been found with a blue Crown backstamp, as shown in the inset.

The pattern depicts a Gongshi or 'scholar's rock' painted in blue and from which tree peonies and other blossoms emerge. A small bird with a long beak sits on a branch of a prunus tree. For centuries Gongshi have been much appreciated by Chinese scholars and are placed in traditional Chinese Gardens such as the one below.

The pattern is similar to Wain's Indian Tree Peony, which also features elements such as the rocks and blossom and a small bird, though the colour palette is different.

To help you avoid confusion between the prints of Blue Rocks & Blossom and Indian Tree Peony, below is a side by side comparrison.

Blue Rocks & Blossom Border

The border is as elaborate as the pattern and as you can see from Barb's rendition is also printed in blue on a white ground with its panels painted in coloured enamels.

V1 August 2024.
If more accurate information comes to light I will update this page.