The outpouring of Japanese inspired ceramics in the last decades of the 1800's ranged from elaborate artwares by Minton and Royal Worcester to inexpensive pieces that the middle class consumer could easily afford. A piece like this earthenware creamer might have been brought to the table as a souvenir from a holiday railway excursion to the seaside.

Fashionable Japanese motifs, transfer printed in dark blue and highlighted in light blue wash and gilding, are scattered over the upright shape. Among the palms, bamboo stalks, and fans our attention is focused on an oriental pot brimming with flowers and a geisha stepping out into her garden carrying her parasol.

No special need for a makers mark--simply a trifle to enjoy. 

This admittedly casual little milk jug, nevertheless, continues two traditional themes adopted long before by English potters copying Asian imports.

• The tall, elegantly robed Asian lady in her garden had made appearances in English versions since the eighteenth century and along the way even picked up a very English nickname, "Long Eliza."
• The second theme, the exotic pot of flowers, appears so frequently that we tend to overlook its imported status. Examination of decorated tablewares--such as Masons Ironstone--from the second quarter of the nineteenth century will quickly demonstate the point.

Was the decorator consciously evoking these traditions or were these motifs so engrained in the everyday production vocabulary that they were in fact "just what we do"?