Plate, 6 x 6 inches. Brown transfer with polychrome clobbering and gilding. Printed maker's mark for Sampson Bridgwood & Son. This octagonal plate features a pattern with a songbird on a nest with speckled eggs laid in trailing vines of roses. A second songbird in flight appears below the other bird. The border consists of a simple gilded line and the four corners are painted in blue.

Sampson Bridgwood & Son was an earthenware and china manufacturer in Longton, Staffordshire, England. From around 1795 to 1799, at the Market Street Works in Lane End, Samuel Bridgwood had been in partnership with his brother-in-law, Richard Johnson as Johnson & Bridgwood, earthenware manufacturers. After 1799 Johnson & Bridgwood had separate businesses. After Samuel's death in 1805 his widow Kitty Bridgwood (née Johnson) continued the business and in 1814 bought her brother's factory (Richard Johnson having been made bankrupt in 1810). Around 1820 Sampson joined his mother in managing the two factories and the business became Kitty Bridgwood & Son. In 1822 the Bridgwood/Johnson works had been sold and Sampson had been briefly jailed as an insolvent debtor. Matters improved for Sampson and by 1829 he was referred to as ‘an excellent manufacturer of porcelain.’ By 1841 he had three factories producing china. In the 1851 census he was recorded as employing 155 workers (64 men, 42 women, 24 boys & 25 girls). Sampson's son, Samuel, who had been involved in the business for a number of years a joined as a partner in Sampson Bridgwood & Son around 1852. At this time Sampson was 60 and his son Samuel was aged 32. In 1853 the Bridgwoods set about building a new factory – the Anchor Works. Some manufacturing started at the new works in 1854 while production also continued at the Stafford Street Works. By 1860 all work was transferred to the Anchor Works which was now complete. In 1876 both Sampson and his son Samuel died. Sampson of old age (he was 84) and Samuel, a few months later, after a long illness. The business was left to Sampson Bridgwood's daughters, Martha and Mary. From 1879 the business was continued by Mary Walker (née Bridgwood) who bought out her sister’s share. Mary Walker's son, George Edward Walker, joined the business in 1880 and in 1882 became a full partner along with his mother. They continued to trade as S. Bridgwood & Son. The business ran into financial difficulty and by 1887 production of china ware had stopped. In June 1890 the business was placed into receivership. The complete works was bought at auction by the potter John Aynsley. In addition to their existing bone china business, Aynsley continued the Bridgwood business producing earthenware and ironstone. The company was managed in turn by his son John Gerrard Aynsley until his death in 1924 and then by his grandson Gerrard Aynsley.