Plate, 9.25 inches diameter. Blue transfer with gilding. Printed maker's mark for E. F. Bodley & Son. Painted pattern number of 3682. This Japonesque pattern features a rectangular cartouche with rounded edges and bumped-out sides on the short ends. Inside the cartouche is a scene composed of a pond with waterlilies and bamboo stalks and three songbirds, two perched and one flying. The cartouche is superimposed over orchids and grasses and un unusual string of thick discs. The border consists of a gilded line.

The Scotia Works was originally the parish workhouse of Burslem and was calculated to accommodate three hundred inmates On the establishment of unions under the Poor Law Act when the new union workhouse was erected this building was occupied as barracks and so continued for some years. It was then converted into a manufactory by Mr. James Vernon in 1857 and he in 1862 was succeeded by the firm of Edward F. Bodley & Co. At these works the usual descriptions of earthenware, printed, enameled, and gilt and ironstone china for steamship and hotel use were made. Between 1863 and 1865, the pottery was operated by the Bodley & Harrold partnership. In 1880 the company changed to Edward F. Bodley & Sons, who in 1881 removed to the New Bridge Pottery, Longport.
The Hill Pottery China Works in 1867 were carried on by Messrs. Alcock, Diggory & Co. In 1870 the firm was altered into that of Bodley and Diggory, but in the following year Mr. Diggory, having retired, the manufactory was continued by Mr. Edward F. Bodley. In 1874 the style was again changed to Bodley and Son and in 1875 to Edwin J. D. Bodley. The productions formerly embraced china earthenware and Parian but were later entirely confined to china. A specialty of Mr. Bodley's productions was that of pans and vases for chandeliers and lamps. These were made of various forms, and more or less highly decorated; they formed an important branch of manufacture. Services of all the usual kinds, more or less elaborately decorated, were also made. The markets supplied were the home and the South Australian, New Zealand, and Colonial.