Royal Doulton 'Bunnykins' Bone China Baby Plate & Porridge Bowl — Outdoor Party & Bathtime Scenes, England — Duo

Royal Doulton 'Bunnykins' Bone China Baby Plate & Porridge Bowl — Outdoor Party & Bathtime Scenes, England — Duo

The Bunnykins world has been keeping children company at mealtimes since 1934 — which is, by any measure, a remarkable innings.

Bunnykins was introduced by Royal Doulton in 1934, drawing on illustrations by Barbara Vernon Bailey, known as Sister Mary Barbara, an Augustinian nun. Her early designs established the character of the range, which continued under other illustrators. The 1936 copyright date appears on later backstamps and should not be confused with the manufacturing date of an individual piece. The range became one of the most enduring children's tableware series ever produced. The scenes depicted are unhurried and warmly observed: rabbits going about the business of ordinary life with a completeness and sincerity that has kept the range in continuous production for the better part of a century.

This duo comprises a medium baby plate and a porridge bowl, each decorated on the interior with a different scene from the Bunnykins world. The plate carries an outdoor party scene: a family gathered beneath a tree, a cloth-covered table set with cakes, younger rabbits playing on the grass and attending to a baby in a wicker crib. The bowl depicts a domestic bathtime — mother rabbit overseeing a cheerful chaos of water, soap, sponges, and small rabbits in various states of compliance. Both pieces carry the running rabbit border to the rim, rendered in warm brown on an ivory ground with a green grass-line detail.

The plate bears a Royal Doulton ©1988 backstamp, while the bowl carries an undated registered-trademark mark. Their precise manufacturing dates have not been established, but the two pieces are visually and decoratively consistent.

Key Details

• Maker: Royal Doulton, England
• Mark (plate): Royal Doulton Made in England, English Fine Bone China, "Bunnykins" ®, © 1988 Royal Doulton
• Mark (bowl): Royal Doulton Made in England, English Fine Bone China, "Bunnykins" ®, Regd Trade Mark
• Series: Bunnykins
• Body: English fine bone china, ivory ground
• Decoration: Transfer-printed narrative scenes with running rabbit border
• Plate scene: Outdoor birthday party
• Bowl scene: Bathtime
• Plate diameter: 20 cm
• Bowl diameter: 15 cm
• Quantity: Two pieces, sold as a duo

Condition
Good used condition. There are no chips, cracks, or crazing. Light surface marks consistent with age and use are present on both pieces.

Other Bunnykins pieces from the shop: two-handled mug, earthenware cereal bowl, dinner plate, beaker and single-handled mug.

Two pieces from different moments in a very long story — and still, unmistakably, the same world.