Footed Flow Blue Covered Vegetable Dish

This exceptional Covered Vegetable Dish was perhaps a commemorative piece or part of a pattern celebrating some event in American History.  It is called American Eagle by Minnie Watson Kamm, author of Old China, and a noted Staffordshire authority.  It is considered one of the rarities in Flow Blue. 

In a resurgance of patriotism following the battle of the Alamo in 1836, the potteries of England began producing wares for export to the United States featuring the American Eagle motif.  Presumably, this is one of them.  The shield on the eagle's breast shows twenty-one stars, the twenty-first being Illinois, which entered the Union in 1818.  However, the British Registry Mark on the back shows a date of Nov. 21, 1846, when the number of states in the Union had reached twenty-eight.  The dish is in "REAL IRON STONE," as stated in the impressed mark on the back.

The deep blue print is sharp and clear in all parts, even where the color is the deepest.  The border is a wide conventional one made up of repeats with small flowers inside irregularly-shaped medallions.  In the center of the bottom of the dish is a large eagle with a very long neck, standing on a globe, wings widely out-stretched.  An American shield is attached to the breast by a strap around the neck, the shield having twenty-one stars (some hidden).  Encircling the whole is a large sunburst.