Oval dish from a desert service, with fruit panels, c.1820-1840
In 1811, the Derby factory was leased to the firm’s salesman and clerk, Robert Bloor. Suffering from competition from the Staffordshire potteries, the quality of the wares was said to have declined. However, thanks to the artist Robert Steel the painting on this serving dish is superb. Steel used this formula, a basket filled with various fruits, balanced on the edge of a marble plinth, on numerous dessert services. First apprenticed by Wedgwood, Steel moved to Derby in 1815, where he became the foremost flower and fruit painter. He developed a recognisable style of fruit painting, best described by the biographer John Haslem: ‘His grouping is harmonious, the light and shade well managed, each piece of fruit is well rounded, and the outline softened and blended into the one next to it, each partaking of the reflected colour from the other’.
Like many ceramic artists, Steel moved around a great deal in search of work. It was a precarious life, as the ceramic industry suffered many economic ups and downs. Good artists were also poached, by other factories by the promise of higher wages. This accounts for the lack of identifying signatures on many pieces, as owners feared their artists would be lured away by rivals. In the late 1820s, perhaps seeking better pay and conditions, Steel moved to the newly founded Rockingham China Works, near Swinton, Yorkshire though he then moved onto Minton.
