Of octagonal form and decorated en grisaille and gilt with a central coat of arms, the dexter of Birkbeck, Argent a fess cherry or and azure between three lions heads gules (with an unusual crest), on a count’s coronet a demi lion rampant holding between the paws a cross pattée. The motto PATIENTIA VINCIT. The impaled coat is painted, Argent a chevron between three horses heads erased sable, recorded for Upwood. The rim is finely painted with a border of flowers and insects.
This service is repertoire by Howard in Chinese Armorial Porcelain (vol. II, London, 2003, p. 233).
For a pair of plates, see William Motley/Cohen & Cohen, Bedtime Stories, 2004, p. 35.
Another plate is in the collection of Le Musée de la Compagnie des Indes de Lorient (France), and illustrated by Louis Mezin in Cargaison de Chine, Porcelaines de la Compagnie des Indes du Musée de Lorient, 2002, p. 167.
A dish was formerly in the Carsten Fourshou Collection (Denmark).
Members of the family of Birkbeck were recorded in Westmorland in the early 14th century, and in 1515 Thomas Birkbeck was granted arms for his defense of carlisle again the Scots.
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