Teacup, 3.5 x 2.75 x 2.25 inches & Saucer, 4.75 inches diameter. Red transfer. Printed maker's mark for William Brownfield & Sons. The inclusion of 'England' indicates a date of 1891, the last year the Brownfield firm was in existence. This pattern is part of the 'Pastimes' series, which features scenes of children in the style of the English artist Kate Greenaway (1846-1901) engaging in a variety of activities. The teacup features a scene of three children playing on a primitive wooden seesaw outside. One boy has fallen of the seesaw and is being comforted by a girl who looks reprovingly toward the boy on the other side of the seesaw, who is watching the scene with an unrepentant expression. The saucer features a scene of a boy and girl outside, acting out the roles of artist and sitter. The boy sits on a rock beneath a tree, leaning back as he sketches a portrait on a canvas held in his hands. The girl he is sketching stands in front of him, leaning on a wooden fence with her arms crossed.
The Brownfields were potters in Cobridge, North Staffordshire from about 1837 to the 1890s. William Brownfield began as a junior partner in the firm of Robinson, Wood & Brownfield, at a pottery formerly owned by Ralph & James Clews. Eventually William Brownfield appears to be the sole owner, the first reference appearing in White’s 1851 directory where we find under china and earthenware manufacturers, Brownfield Wm. Cobridge. The factory produced a range of earthenware, stone china and added stoneware and parian to their productions. In the International Exhibition of 1862 they were awarded a medal for “printed earthenware” but no details are given of the patterns. Entries at other International exhibitions followed. In 1871 William Etches Brownfield entered the business and it became William Brownfield & Son. William Sr. died in 1873 and William Jr. continued and his brother Edward Arthur Brownfield joined the firm. They continued to make a wide range of ceramics with occasional tour de force pieces for national and international exhibition, becoming one of the top ten Staffordshire factories. The company’s last swansong was an unusual venture fostered by Arthur Edward Brownfield, who in 1892 created a Potter’s Guild based on John Ruskin’s principles. But this “cooperative” was unfortunately destined to failure and the company was wound up in 1900.
