Belle Fiore

‘Belle Fiore’ with its bold brush strokes and bright colours is typical of the hand-painted ‘cottage wares’ manufactured in the United Kingdom in the 1940s and 1950s. It was a hand-painted pattern in nine colours applied under a glossy glaze.
The pattern was introduced in the late 1930s by the Soho Pottery Ltd (from 1944 called Simpsons (Potters Ltd)) an earthenware manufacturer at the Elder Work, Cobridge. It was advertised in the Pottery Gazette (Volume 65 page 169) in 1940 although indications are that it had been in production a little earlier. The design was marketed under the company’s general ‘Solian Ware’ trade name as Pattern No.521 on the ‘Chanticleer’ shape. The pattern was applied to tea, coffee (?) and dinnerware and to tablewares such as tureens and serving dishes. Initially, the pattern was called ‘Bellefiore’.