The  Enoch Wood and Sons "Belzoni" pattern features scenes of adventurous action in the exotic Middle East or Northern Africa.  Men, usually attired in Moorish costume, are depicted on horseback -- complete with streaming pennants -- in pursuit of exotic quarry. Here a lone rider rears his horse to signal his party visible in the distance.  

The center scenes are framed in Wood's border of luscious grape clusters interspersed with additional hunting vignettes. The border, which extends into the well of the plate, is finished with concentric bands of ornament which are also employed at the outer edge to accent the scalloped profile of the plate.

Bi-color examples are most frequently found in combinations of red and teal green. This red and blue example is considerably more rare. 

In The Dictionary of Blue and White :Printed Pottery 1780-1880, A.W. Coysh and R.K. Henrywood note that the "Belzoni" pattern name must refer to Giovanni Battista Belzoni, an Italian traveler and Egyptologist.

Sort of the Indiana Jones of his era, Belzoni achieved an enduring fascination in the public's mind.  An adventurer with skills ranging from barber to hydraulic engineer to circus performer, he parlayed it all into a career in the emerging field of archaeology.  Among his accomplishments was the recovery of the seven plus ton colossal bust of Rameses II, which still holds a place of honor at the British Museum.  Typical of adventurers of his day, in 1819 he published an account of his travels and excavations in Africa. Even his death in 1823 while traveling to Timbuktu fueled the public's imagination, and an 1829 publication by his widow -- of drawings of the royal tombs at Thebes -- further underscored his celebrity.  

This website contains other examples of the "Belzoni" pattern -- both monochromatic and bi-color. Contact us for a full listing of pieces currently in stock.