A fine and rare Early 20th Century Antique English Royal Doulton Porcelain Lobed Cabinet Plate with heavily gilded border and footring, "Odontoglossum . Var, Rothschild" painted by David Dewsberry, active at Doultons from 1889 to 1919, having joined the company after training under the Alcocks at the Hill Pottery, Burslem, and having won the first medal ever awarded to a student at the Wedgwood institute. Acknowledged as a master painter of orchids, he studied the plants in the conservatories of the Duke of Sutherland, Joseph Chamberlain and other orchid-growers. A great music lover, he conducted the Burslem Congregational Church choir for 33 years. The church remembered his “unstinted voluntary work which raised the standard of the musical portion of our services to a very high level”. His gravestone at Burslem Cemetery bears the words “gone to join the choir invisible”. This plate, is an excellent example of his work in this genre and it is believed that the orchid here illustrated was developed by the Victorian "Orchid King", Frederick Sanders, who named the variety after Ferdinand de Rothschild, it having first been exhibited at the Royal Horticultural Society's Great Flower Show in May 1890. The obverse bearing the signature of the artist, viz. "D. Dewsberry", the reverse with the Royal Doulton puce printed backstamp as used from 1902 - 1922 following the granting of the Royal Warrant to the company in 1901, the title, "Odontoglossum . Var, Rothschild", painted in gold, and painted in black above the letter A, the code RA2673.B., Ref. Robert Allen Design Studio ~ Pattern Numbers, and the pattern number C9975, Ref. Doulton ~ Pattern Numbers, all this together with the impressed Date Code 9 - 11 for 1911.
Height ~ 24.00 cm. / 9.50 inches ~ Width ~ 24.00 cm. / 9.50 inches ~ Depth ~ 2.50 cm. / 1.00 inch ~ Year ~ Circa 1911.
