Poole Pottery "Thomas Hardy" Plate

Offered for sale is a Poole Pottery plate depicting Thomas Hardy. This plate dates from 1968 and was made for the Hardy festival– forty years after Thomas Hardy died. The trapezoid shape was first used for "Delphis" decoration in 1966, and the early examples, like the dish here, have little feet at the back to stand on, rather than a complete foot ring. The raised decoration is also reminiscent of (if much less sophisticated than) the early Poole portrait plaques and tiles made during the First World War, that used a Tremblay technique to give a quite photographic likeness.