Plate (one of a pair)

Each painted feather on this plate can be identified by species, with most of them belonging to game birds. The pattern, therefore, greatly appealed to the British gentry with its fondness for shooting, and among whom the practice of collecting feathers (and other natural specimens, such as shells and taxidermy) was well established. Real feathers were often pasted into albums in overlapping patterns, in the same manner as they are painted on this plate. Feathers were also a fashionable component of contemporaneous dress, which gave rise to the profession of the plumassier, a specialist purveyor of feathers. Responding to this fashion, the porcelain factory Chamberlain-Worcester began production of their feather design by 1807, with their rival factory—also based in Worcester—Flight, Barr & Barr, beginning production of a very similar design shortly thereafter, as can be seen on an ecuelle in the Art Institute’s collection.