Meat Platter Made by Belle Vue Pottery, Hull c.1826-1841
This platterâs willow pattern decoration is still a familiar style today. The decoration shows an imaginary Chinese scene. Willow pattern is a European interpretation of Chinese style. The printed makerâs mark underneath the platter tells us that it was made at the Belle Vue Pottery in Hull. Thousands of pots were made at Belle Vue, but fewer than one in a hundred received a makerâs mark. This makes it very hard to identify Belle Vue pottery today. The platterâs willow pattern decoration looks very intricate but it would have been easy to produce. This is because the plate has been transfer printed. The transfer printing process uses the same engraved copper plate to print thousands of pots. Transfer printing is much quicker and cheaper than painting pots by hand. This is why the majority of pots made at Hullâs Belle Vue Pottery were transfer printed. The Belle Vue Pottery existed on the Humber bank from 1826-1841. The pottery was near to where Kingston Retail Park is today. Merchant William Bell set up Belle Vue. He bought the site for £1700. Bell decided to name his pottery after a street recently built nearby called Belle Vue Terrace. William Bellâs father was one of the men in charge of building Belle Vue Terrace. William Bell must have chosen the name for his pottery because of its family connections. The potteryâs location next to the River Humber was essential for its success. It had its own wharf where ships tied up to unload clay for making the pots. Other ships brought coal to power the kilns. The wharf was the only place for ships to collect finished pots for export, mainly to Germany. Disaster struck at Belle Vue in 1840. The Hull and Selby Railway Company opened a railway line along the Humber Bank. The railway cut off the potteryâs access to the river, and it became difficult to export pots. The pottery closed in 1841.
