"Finest of Dining" | derbyporcelain

The Finest of Dining.

During 2013 the Royal Crown Derby Museum mounted a superb exhibition featuring some of the fine services the company has produced for royalty, noblemen, world leaders, statesmen and the leading businesses of the day. It helped to highlight how the powerful men of wealth, power and political influence turned to Royal Crown Derby for services to impress.

In support of the Museum, we mounted this on-line exhibition focusing on the "Around the World" section of the exhibition at Royal Crown Derby.

The Society is grateful to Royal Crown Derby and in particular Museum Curator Jacqueline Smith for help with, and permission to use, the details and images here.

World Leaders.

In 1969, Royal Crown Derby sold a service to the Shah of Persia (1919-1980), later to become the Shah of Iran before being overthrown by the Iranian Revolution. A plate from the service is illustrated to the right, plus an image of the Shah with former US President Jimmy Carter.

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King Hussein of Jordan (1935-1999) ordered a service from Royal Crown Derby in 1958. It was a very simple service, the only decoration being the royal crown. A plate of "Queen's Dragoon" shape is illustrated to the right, together with an image of the King.

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In 1955 Iskander Mirza, the last Governor-General of Pakistan becoming its first President in 1956, ordered a service from Royal Crown Derby. It was decorated in the national colours green and white, the colours of the Pakistani flag and incorporated the national emblem of the star and crescent. It was of "Queen's Gadroon" shape. Images of a plate and a sauce boat can be seen to the right.

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During the 1950's Sheikh Ali bin Abdullah Al Thani (ruled Qatar 1949-1960) ordered a huge 3,000 piece service from Royal Crown Derby which included 12 large bowls capable of holding rice and a whole roast sheep. An image of a plate can be seen to the right, together with an image of the Qatar flag for comparison.

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This is a plate from a service made by Royal Crown Derby for Ibn Saud in 1903. Beginning with the re-conquest of his family's ancestral home city of Riyadh in 1902, he consolidated his control over the Najd in 1922, then conquered the Hijaz in 1925. Having conquered almost all of central Arabia, he united his dominions into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, of which he was the first King.

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This is a plate from a very large service of 1,500 pieces, ordered by The Right Hon. Sir John Kotelawala KBE, Prime Minister of Ceylon. He served as Prime Minister from 1953 - 1956. The service was ordered from Royal Crown Derby in 1955. Also shown is an image of Sir John with former US President Eisenhower.

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Governments and Legislative Bodies

In 1968, the Government of Pakistan ordered 11,000 pieces from Royal Crown Derby to be supplied to their embassies around the world. Here we illustrate an image of a coffee pot from these services together with an image of the flag of Pakistan.

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In 1927 the Australian Parliament relocated from Melbourne to Canberra where they sat in the Provisional Parliament House (image far right). In 1926 and ahead of this move, the Governor General and the Prime Minister of Australia ordered a large service from Royal Crown Derby for use at functions in the new Parliament building. A plate from the service is shown to the right.

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In 1956 the Government of Ceylon ordered a service from Royal Crown Derby, adding to the service again in 1967. The service was primarily for the use of both the Prime Minister and the Governor General. The first photo to the right shows a coffee can from the 1956 order, whilst the far photo is of a sucrier from the 1967 order. The basic pattern can be seen to be the same, though the 1967 pieces have a more narrow gold edge.

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Companies and Individuals of Influence

The Hiram Walker Whisky Company is one of the leading distillery companies in Canada. Their best known brands are probably Canadian Club and Ballantine's Scotch Whisky. In 1964 they ordered a service from Royal Crown Derby. The order was placed through Cassidy's of Montreal. An example is shown above.

Thomas McKenzie & Sons Ltd were a large ironmongers in Pearse Street, Dublin. In 1968 they ordered a dinner service from Royal Crown Derby in pattern A1127, of Lombardy shape with a crest. Two years later their Pearse Street warehouse was to burn down. An example of the service is shown above.

Above and to the left you can see a breakfast cup & saucer and a plate from the celebrated "Gary" service, with flowers signed by Albert Gregory and gilding signed by George William Darlington. Produced in 1909, these pieces form part of one of the most expensive services ever made at Royal Crown Derby. Commissioned by Tiffany & Co, New York for Judge Elbert H Gary, it comprised a coffee, tea and dinner service of at least 400 items.

Gary was born into a farming family in Wheaton, Illinois in 1846 and became a leading expert in Corporate Law. In 1901 he founded Gary, Indiana, known as the steel mill city.

To the right is a plate, photographed from both front and reverse, that is thought to have been ordered by Gary through Tiffany & Co in 1903.

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The Society would like to point out that much of the non-porcelain information has been sourced from the internet - mainly from Wikipedia - and we cannot be held responsible for inaccuracies.