Platter, 11.5 x 9.5 inches. Blue transfer. Printed maker's mark for John Tams. The Rd. No. indicates a pattern registration date of 1884. The pattern contains two cartouches with ivy in the background and a spray of wheat tucked in between. The rectangular cartouche shows a scene with a boat in the water in front of a mountain range with a few small buildings near the shore. The center cartouche has small stylized flowers.

John Tams was apprenticed to a working potter. About 1865 he entered into partnership with William Lowe, manufacturing in St. Gregory's Pottery, High Street, Longton. The partnership was dissolved about 1873 and in 1874 John Tams bought the Crown pottery, on the corner of Commerce Street and High Street. At first he specialized in the manufacture of imperial measured ware, mugs, jugs, etc., for hotels and public houses. The increasing use of glass and further government regulations forced him to develop new lines of production, including ornamental and general earthenware. In 1903 John Tams took his son Edmund into partnership and traded as John Tams & Son. The business was incorporated in 1912, trading as John Tams & Son Ltd. John Tams retired in 1917 and the business continued to be run by Edmund Tams and his two sons Philip & Peter.