Mayer & Elliot - Dish (6) - Ironstone - 1858/1860 United Kingdom

6-dish ceramic/ironstone service – Mayer & Elliot, Longport, England, circa 1858-1860

Splendid set of six plates (dishes/soup plates, 27 cm diameter) in English ironstone-type ceramic, produced by Mayer & Elliot manufactory of Longport, Burslem (Staffordshire), active under this corporate name only from 1858 to 1860—a very brief period that precisely identifies the production period.

Print-decorated and hand-colored in shades of pink, brick red, gray and black on a cream-white background, with a cluster of stylized palm fronds/leaves in a neoclassical "Etruscan" style along the lip and a perimeter toothed edge. In the center, a circular medallion with a stylized six-petaled floral motif. Silvered edge trim. Fine craquelure on the surface, entirely consistent with the age of the piece.
Origin: Wedding gift of 1976, kept since then in a private collection.
Condition: generally good, widespread craquelure typical of the period,

Backmarks
Impressed mark "MAYER & ELLIOT" — plain impressed in the paste (not enamel-stamped), a typical factory mark used by the manufactory between 1858 and 1860. It is the element that allows the definite attribution.
Two small, factory-impressed marks, difficult to read.
Number "3696" hand-written in red is a typical pattern/reference number used by the decorator, written by the painter or the decoration department to identify the motif or production lot. Common on mid-19th-century English hand-painted ceramics.