Platter, 11 x 9 inches. Black transfer with polychrome clobbering. Impressed maker's mark for W. T. Copeland & Sons. Painted pattern number 2/1796 and the impressed S81 indicates a manufacture date of September 1881. The border, known as "Arabesque," is seen on all the patterns in this series. This platter has a central image consisting of a scroll with furled ends decorated and containing a scene featuring a body of water, perhaps the Nile river, with water lilies in the foreground. In the distance is a land mass on which a domed mosque and a minaret can be seen. A tall bamboo on the left frames this view. A vertical scroll with a flower is behind the large scroll and all is overlaid on several flowering prunus branches.

W. T. Copeland was the only son of William Copeland, partner of Josiah Spode in the Stoke Potteries, of Staffordshire and of Portugal Street, London. He succeeded his father as head of the porcelain firm in Portugal Street, London and eventually bought out the interests of the Spode family in the business in the Potteries and London. He ran the business in partnership with Thomas Garrett between 1833 and 1847. After the dissolution of the Copeland and Garrett partnership, it traded as W.T. Copeland and Sons. (1847-1976). In 1866 Copeland was appointed china and glass manufacturer to the Prince of Wales.