Ridgway's "Devonshire" pattern manages to incorporate a wealth of Japanesque detail while still seeming homey and comfortable.

The design, here executed in brown transfer on an ivory body, hinges on a cluster of three pictorial reserves--presented off-center--among a spray of flowers in the lower left quadrant of the plate. In the primary reserve, a perky rooster hails the morning sun. Two circular reserves feature a song bird and,closer to its Japanese inspiration, two fat carp. The grouping is set against a fine sprig ground, while a more geometrical floral pattern is employed for the border.

Four plates are available, priced separately.

The treatment of images as framed two-dimensional pictures, seemingly mounted on the surface of the plate, was a favorite composition strategy of Aesthetic Movement designers. Frequently the framed pictures are set amid naturalistic depictions of flowers. Wedgwood's "Edinburg" pattern, featured elsewhere on this website provides another example.

Our rooster could just as well illustrate the nursery rhyme "Cock-a-doodle-doo, my dame has lost her shoe," reminding us that Japanese influence was one of the distinctive elements of Victorian children's illuatration.