37. Blue and White Plate

Even more than with the Levant Co. A job with the East India Co was highly lucrative. If malaria or other diseases didn’t do for you, you would likely return from India extremely wealthy.

This blue-&-white soup plate made in China has the coat of arms and crest for Charles Peers of Oxfordshire.  The plate shows a pheasant on a rock among flowers and bamboo.  The bill of lading survives and reads ‘Invoice of two chests of China ware … bound to the Port of Madras and consigned to Nicholas Morris, Merchant there, on account and risk of Charles Peers Esq. ‘

It is recorded that there were 100 plates, 6 soup serving dishes, 60 soup plates, 4 sets of bowls, 12 sauceboats and 12 salts totalling some 250 pieces. Charles Peers junior worked for the East India Company in Madras. The plates were manufactured in 1730-31.