Underplate, 8.875 x 4.75 inches. Black transfer. Printed maker's mark for William Adams & Co. This pattern features identical motifs on the top and bottom. Two elaborate scrolling Rococo urns are place with both blooming and fruited hops trailing from them. The handles are decorated with painted black lines in the same style.

William Adams (1833-1905) was the descendant of a long line of English potters. The Adams family descends from a family of that name owning lands in Tunstall as far back as 1299, branches of which settled in Shropshire and other neighboring counties as generations went by. Members of the family were potters as early as 1447. They rose to eminence in the trade in the 18th century as Master Potters in Burslem and other parts of the Potteries, working constantly side by side with the Tofts, Astburys, Daniels, Wedgwoods, Warburtons, Woods, and Mayers, and intermarried with most of those families. They were pioneers of the trade in North Staffordshire, and the earlier generations helped to pave the way for such eminent potters as Thomas Whieldon (1719-1795); Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795); John Turner (1733-1786); Josiah Spode (1733-1797) and his son Josiah; William Adams (1746-1805); William Adams (1772-1829); Thomas Minton (1765-1834), and others.