This boat shape creamer in glazed caneware manages to combine contrasting elements--a flared collar and spout above a melon ribbed base--along with a finely detailed surface pattern, while still maintaining a harmonious design.

Foliage motifs peak out from the edges of the ribs softening the overall effect and creating an organic, rather than strictly geometric effect. The collar above receives a contrasting band of triangular panels with a rising sum motif alternating with stiff stemmed lotus blossoms. This border with its whiff of ancient Egypt links the design to the Egyptian revival pieces Wedgwood was producing at about the same time.

While designers in the period of our creamer remain anonymous, occasionally one can compare motifs and speculate on the presence of the same hand in different patterns. Another stoneware pattern, contemporary to our example, combines ribbing with a similar foliage detail with alternating stemmed lotus blossoms similar to those in our creamer's collar. A detail of a brown and white stoneware creamer--from the Seekers archive-- illustrates these recombined elements. The same designer?  We will never really know... Both certainly share the same strategy of embellishing a shape with low relief ornamentation.