Arzberg Porcelain | Children's Feeding Set | Shepherd & Flock Pattern | Plate and Bowl | West Germany, c.1960s

Objects made for children are rarely given the same seriousness as those made for adults — which is precisely why the better ones stand out.

Founded in 1887, Arzberg Porzellan established itself as one of Germany’s most respected producers of modern porcelain, known for its clarity of form and disciplined approach to design. By the mid-twentieth century, this sensibility extended beyond formal tableware into children’s sets, where illustration was handled with the same restraint and intention rather than reduced to novelty.

This two-piece feeding set — comprising a plate and deep bowl — carries a pastoral scene characteristic of West German design in the late 1950s and early 1960s: clean linework, controlled colour, and a deliberately simplified narrative that remains legible without becoming decorative excess.

The illustration depicts a shepherd in traditional dress — wide-brimmed hat, belted cape, and buttoned coat in muted terracotta and grey — standing in a gently rolling green landscape. He holds a crook, with a black sheepdog at his feet. Around him, a flock of sheep in soft neutrals moves across the meadow. Stylised trees frame the scene, with a low mountain ridge beyond, while above, a sun with a human face emerges between bands of cloud — a motif typical of the period’s graphic language.

Both the plate and bowl are executed in fine white porcelain, the scene applied via lithographic transfer and enclosed by a thin yellow line to the rim. The palette remains crisp and balanced, with no fading or disruption to the printed detail.

Condition is excellent throughout. There are no chips, cracks, or losses to either piece.

Key Details

• Maker: Arzberg Porzellan
• Form: Children’s feeding set (plate and bowl)
• Material: Porcelain
• Decoration: Lithographic transfer — shepherd, flock, sheepdog, pastoral landscape
• Origin: West Germany
• Date: c.1960s
• Backstamp: Arzberg / Germany (green mark); shape/pattern no. 58

Dimensions:

• Plate: 19 cm diameter | 248 g
• Bowl: 14.8 cm diameter | 258 g

Condition:
Excellent; no chips, cracks, or losses; gilt intact

Collector Appeal

• Complete two-piece set — more desirable than single survivors
• Strong example of mid-century West German graphic design
• Produced by a well-regarded porcelain manufacturer with international recognition
• Clean, unfaded transfer
• Appeals across categories: children’s ware, mid-century design, and European porcelain

A set like this was made for daily use, but its survival in this condition suggests it was kept for reasons beyond function — and rightly so.