Ecuelle with Cover and Stand

Each painted feather on this ecuelle 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. The Worcester-based porcelain factory Flight, Barr & Barr produced their feather design in response to this fashion, as well as a similar design then being produced by the Chamberlain factory, also in Worcester, which can be seen on a pair of plates in the Art Institute’s collection.