Foley China | Broadway Pattern | E. Brain & Co. Ltd. | Large Handled Cake Plate | English Bone China | Circa 1950s–1960s | Excellent Condition

Some plates are made to hold cake. This one was made to hold the room.

E. Brain & Co. Ltd. produced Foley China at the Foley Works in Fenton, Staffordshire from the early twentieth century until the factory's closure in 1963, when the name and moulds passed to Shelley. In the postwar decades the factory turned out some of its most accomplished decorative bone china, combining well-established Rococo-revival border treatments with the kind of richly coloured central motifs that had made English bone china the envy of European table services. The Broadway pattern is among the most complete expressions of that tradition: a squared cake plate with cut corners and shaped tab handles, the bone china body of exceptional whiteness, the decoration built up in layers — crimson and gold Rococo cartouches at the cardinal points, floral swag panels in the quadrants, and at the centre a polychrome vignette of a fantail pheasant in full flight, wings spread, rising from a cottage garden setting of roses, forget-me-nots, and open woodland. The bird is a direct descendant of the exotic bird subjects that had decorated English and Continental porcelain since the eighteenth century, reinterpreted here with the particular freshness of mid-century lithographic colour.

The plate is the large handled cake plate in the Broadway pattern — the serving piece intended to anchor a full tea service on the table. The body is the squared form with gently scalloped edge and shaped tab handles characteristic of the Foley Broadway shape. The border treatment carries four principal crimson and gold cartouches, each enclosing a white-ground floral reserve with roses and mixed flowers; between them, four diagonal floral swag panels in watercolour tones against a pale ground, framed by fine gold scrollwork. The handles carry crimson and gold detail extending from the border. The central medallion presents the fantail pheasant vignette in full polychrome — blue-grey body, crimson crest, wings outstretched in orange, yellow, and pink, long tail trailing — set in a naturalistic English garden landscape with a wooden fence, deciduous trees in leaf, and a foreground garland of open roses. A fine gold line runs the full perimeter of the plate.

The plate is in excellent condition. There are no chips, cracks, or crazing on the bone china body. The gilding is in very good to excellent condition throughout — fully intact on the border cartouches, scrollwork, and rim line; minor age-related wear consistent with careful domestic use is visible on the left handle tab. The transfer print is clean, well-registered, and vivid across all elements.

Key Details

• Maker: E. Brain & Co. Ltd. (Foley China), Fenton, Staffordshire, England
• Pattern: Broadway
• Shape: Large square handled cake plate with cut corners and shaped tab handles
• Backstamp: Foley China — "Broadway" — E. Brain & Co. Ltd. — English Bone China — Made in England
• Pieces: 1 — cake plate only
• Material: English bone china
• Period: Circa 1950s–1960s; E. Brain & Co. Ltd. backstamp style consistent with postwar production
• Decoration: Polychrome transfer-printed central pheasant vignette in garden landscape; crimson and gold Rococo cartouche border; floral swag quadrant panels; fine gilt rim line
• Gilding: Very good to excellent — fully intact throughout; minor wear to left handle tab consistent with age
• Condition: Excellent — no chips, cracks, or crazing; gilding strong; vivid and well-registered transfer print
• Buyer profile: Foley China collector; buyer completing a Broadway tea service; lover of postwar English bone china; interior decorator seeking a statement serving piece; gift buyer

English bone china at its most confident — a pattern that has been making tea tables look well-dressed for the better part of a century.