A tale of East and West seems to be the subject of Spode's "Ship" pattern.  Executed in a color palette of peach, pink, green, tan, chocolate brown and shades of gray, the scene seems to be a delicate combination of transfer printing with hand drawn enhancements. <BR><BR>In the lower foreground, an oriental mother and child engage our gaze.  They stand on a quay with a large pavilion nearby.  Across the quay, in a manner reminiscent of Hiroshige, we note the delicate impression of some sort of portside compound, a village or warehouses.  A European schooner is depicted in the distant upper left hand quadrant of the view.  Finally, toward the top of the view, a slight shift to a lighter gray ground creates the delicate impression of a horizon line, the darker shade indicating water. This confection is bordered with a delicate combination of peach, pink and slately blue florals clustered over an oriental cloud pattern ground.  The florals are finished with green foliage while delicate touches of gilt enhance the border.   

The British potter always seemed to deal with competition by copying his competitor. One example is the strong influence of Chinese export porcelain on Spode design. So adept was Spode in the Chinese manner that the pottery produced special order duplicates to replace missing pieces in the Chinese services owned by aristocrats. Their mastery of the Chinese style is evident in the evocative "Ship" pattern.<BR><BR>This border will seem familiar to Spode collectors; it was combined with other centers to produce new patterns. References today refer to it as the "Ship" border.