1831-1840 Clyde Pottery Company. Early nineteenth century glazed ceramic plate.

Early nineteenth century glazed ceramic plate manufactured by the Clyde Pottery Company, Greenock (1814-1841) under the ownership of John Muir (fl 1816-1840) and Andrew Muir (1817-1899) during the period when James Stevenson served as factory manager. Decorated with the 'British Rivers' pattern in brown.

Decorated with the 'British Rivers' pattern in brown. Many British potteries produced 'series' of pictures on their wares. These were usually copied from engravings in late eighteenth or early nineteenth century travel books.

During his time as manager at Greenock, James Stevenson imitated this fashion by calling the series 'British Rivers'. In reality the images were not based on any original scene but were imaginary creations comprised of standard elements such as clumps of trees, bridges or buildings which were switched about to give a range of pictures.