Copeland Spode Dish Set

JE sends me photos of two pieces of a five-piece set of covered dishes circa 1900 by Copeland Spode. Both the style and the form of the dishes – indicating the use to which they were put – point to the late 19^th to early 20^th century This is the British Edwardian period, so beloved of period drama shows. 

The four covered dishes and one central tureen were collectively called a Canterbury, and designed to rotate on a lazy Susan positioned on the sideboard of a 1900 English country manor house’s breakfast room. The servants would fill these dishes and set this out at 9 am along with silvered chafing dishes and other covered serving pieces. Aristocratic diners would serve themselves from that antique mahogany sideboard, dating from the 18^th century from the Georgian period. A separate side table was employed to hold hot drink urns and hot dishes that required braziers. Guests of the house were expected to bring their full plates from the sideboard to the breakfast table around 9:30 am. The servants were not expected to be seen until breakfast was finished. 

Breakfast was a time to discuss the events of the day to come, which typically revolved around outdoor activities such as the hunt, tennis, or croquet. For that reason, it was acceptable to show up for breakfast in sport clothes. In 1905-1912 hunting was popular on the country estates; all kinds of game were pursued and prepared in the kitchen. By the 1920s, because of the international flavor of WWI, the world became a bigger place gastronomically speaking – French omelets were added to the rich game served at breakfast.

The delicacies that each of the five pieces contained indicate a flavor of the era. The types of entrees, popular amongst the wealthy in England in 1900, represent the beginning of the famous English “fry-up,” familiar to anyone who has stayed in a bed and breakfast in England with a “full” 9-10 am breakfast. 

In 1900, the Canterbury might have contained any one of these: bacon, black pudding, sausage, baked beans, grilled tomatoes, kedgeree (haddock), kippers, cold joints, potted fish, cold game or ham, veal and ham pie, game and rump steak pie, tongue, mutton chops, rump steak, broiled sheep’s kidneys, bread fried in drippings or goose fat, galantines, cold grouse, cold pheasant, cold ptarmigan, whiting fish, devilled kidneys, or fish in shells. Porridge was eaten wherever one stood. Sir Harold Nicolson, (1886-1968) – a member of the Edwardian aristocracy, a premier British diplomat and former member of the House of Parliament – wrote about the English Manor House breakfast in his book Small Talk: “In the archetypal country house breakfast, porridge was eaten negligently by people walking about the breakfast room and watching the rain descend upon the Italian-style garden outside the windows after the many main courses.” Insouciance comes to mind…

Recipe books were published by late Victorian females such as Isabella Beaton, and included instruction on the proper English way to entertain. Luncheon was served formally at 1 pm and it could be presented on the sideboard or served by the staff. Tea was formal at 5 pm with sweet buns, then the gong would go off at 6:30 pm indicating it was time to dress for dinner; then cocktails at 7 pm – and a formal English style dinner at 8 pm. 

Reading the list of what Edwardians ate for breakfast from the Canterbury set, I wager they were LARGE people; to eat this way at breakfast would pack on the pounds. Historians of this style of eating, however, opine that the inhabitants of the drafty ancient country homes needed to consume calories because there was NO central heating, and 1900 England was colder than it is today. 

The makers of the Canterbury – Copeland Spode – established an English crockery business as far back as 1700, when the main ingredient for porcelain was discovered in Cornwall. By 1880, English ceramic factories added ground animal bones to the slurry for stronger porcelain, hence the birth of BONE China. Josiah Spode went from apprentice in 1754 to owner of a ceramic factory in 1776. He modernized his factory by introducing mechanical pottery tables and transfer printing on China (like decals; no longer was hand painted porcelain necessary). He opened a shop for the aristocratic buyer in London in 1788, employing William Copeland who – at least as enterprising as Spode – bought Spode’s business in the mid-19^th century. The Canterbury was made in 1900 under both names. The value of the set is $600 because it is complete after 125 years. We don’t eat what it held in 1900, however!