Platter, 19.625 x 15.875 inches. Blue transfer. This scene, one of 22 different scenes, is part of a dinner service that has the largest series of patterns based on a single theme ever produced by the factory. The patterns are divided into the following collections of Medieval Scenes: (A) Pastimes in the Garden - 6; (B) Washing in the Garden - 2; (C) Activities in the Kitchen - 2; (D) Children's Activities - 4; (E) Activities - Countryside - 4; (F) Leisure Time - 4. From the Activities in the Kitchen collection, this pattern features a procession of kitchen workers in medieval dress carrying food to a feast. A young boy carries a jug with drink, a woman carries a platter with a large fish, and a man carries a platter with a pig’s head. A dog in the front of the procession looks up at the food. The group passes in front of a balustrade with a fruiting tree on the left and a castle in the background.

The Brownfields were potters in Cobridge, North Staffordshire from about 1837 to the 1890s. William Brownfield began as a junior partner in the firm of Robinson, Wood & Brownfield, at a pottery formerly owned by Ralph & James Clews. Eventually William Brownfield appears to be the sole owner, the first reference appearing in White’s 1851 directory where we find under china and earthenware manufacturers, Brownfield Wm. Cobridge. The factory produced a range of earthenware, stone china and added stoneware and parian to their productions. In the International Exhibition of 1862 they were awarded a medal for “printed earthenware” but no details are given of the patterns. Entries at other International exhibitions followed. In 1871 William Etches Brownfield entered the business and it became William Brownfield & Son. William Sr. died in 1873 and William Jr. continued and his brother Edward Arthur Brownfield joined the firm. They continued to make a wide range of ceramics with occasional tour de force pieces for national and international exhibition, becoming one of the top ten Staffordshire factories. The company’s last swansong was an unusual venture fostered by Arthur Edward Brownfield, who in 1892 who created a Potter’s Guild based on John Ruskin’s principles. But this “cooperative” was unfortunately destined to failure and the company was wound up in 1900.