Dinner services in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries featured a variety of plate siz...

Dinner services in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries featured a variety of plate sizes.  This toy plate corresponds to the dinner plate of an adult service.

The fluted "shell" edge, highlighted here with a cobalt wash, was a popular treatment from the late eighteenth century into the early twentieth. The relatively smooth profile of this plate's edge places it in the first decades of the nineteenth. The white appearance of the piece was achieved by adding cobalt as a bluing agent to the yellowish creamware glaze, a technique that dates back at least to the 1780's and continued well into the subsequent century.

Despite its condition issues, this toy example displays well and demands a certain respect...

Despite its condition issues, this toy example displays well and demands a certain respect as a diminutive survivor of centuries of potential playtime mishaps.