Collection: Picardy on Florentine

Crown Ducal introduced the Florentine shape around 1930, part of a run of new tableware lines from the A.G. Richardson pottery in Tunstall, Staffordshire. That deeply moulded, heavily scalloped rim, the raised relief border that makes the plate feel almost architectural before you even look at the centre, is the Florentine shape's most recognisable feature. The Picardy pattern sits inside it: a soft, loose bouquet of small pink, white, and lavender flowers on a white ground, finished with gold trim at the rim. Not a loud pattern. One that understood the shape was already doing enough.

The pottery traded as Crown Ducal from 1916 and continued making earthenware until 1974, when it was sold and closed. These pieces have been waiting in sideboard drawers and thrift store shelves ever since. Each pendant carries the floral centre, that quiet gathering of small blooms, set in an aluminum frame with a hand-formed wire bale and an 18" chain. Every piece is one of a kind. Same pattern, different story.