This beautiful pierced salt glazed stoneware dish was made in England circa 1760.
The dish was molded with basketweave panels and raised rococo scrolls.
It has eight lobes, each with pierced latticework.
The central well has a geometric diaper pattern, framed by a raised circular border.
The panels, the rococo scrolls, and the piercings are all arranged in a carefully balanced composition.
The surface retains excellent definition, with light passing through the pierced sections and animating the sculptural relief.
The precision of the piercing and the sharpness of the molded ornament create one of the most exceptional, ambitious, and technically demanding forms produced in eighteenth-century English salt glaze.
Forms of this type were produced with the American colonial market in mind and are today studied and collected within the field of eighteenth-century Americana.
An example of this model is preserved in the Colonial Williamsburg collections.
It is illustrated on page 151 of Salt-Glazed Stoneware in Early America by J. Skerry and S. F. Hood.
The authors note: ” the front of the pierced dish is press-molded with a variant of the basket-dot-diaper pattern, so favored in America for dinnerware, underscoring the close relationship between English ceramic production and colonial taste.”
Pieces of this caliber were luxury wares in their own time and are today regarded as true icons of eighteenth-century Americana stoneware.

Dimensions: 11.75 inches in diameter

Condition: Excellent with a slight kiln burn on the underside only (see last image)

Decoration: Press-molded relief with pierced latticework
Material: Salt glazed stoneware
Style: Mid-Georgian with Rococo influence
Origin: England
Date: Circa 1760
Notable Details:
Rare pierced form documented in the Colonial Williamsburg collections
Variation of the Basket-dot-diaper pattern favored in American colonial markets
Exceptional preservation of molded detail and piercing