An important Derby plate from the Hafod Service, circa 1788
Painted by Zachariah Boreman with a riverscape on the Hafod estate in Cardiganshire, Wales, within formal blue and gilt borders, 22.5cm diam, crown, crossed batons, D mark and 'Hafod' in blue, 'floating' pattern number 67 inside footrim, gilder's number 1 for Thomas Soar
Footnotes:
Provenance
G C Bond Collection

A damaged dish from the service was sold by Bonhams on 18 April 2012, lot 272 and is illustrated by Stephen Mitchell, The Marks on Chelsea-Derby and Early Crossed-Batons Useful Wares (2007), pl.81(iii). The Hafod service was commissioned by Thomas Johnes in the summer of 1787 and was decorated with scenes from his estate at Hafod, sixteen miles from Aberystwyth. It was completed by December 1787 and was delivered in March 1788. The service is referred to in Joseph Lygo's letters and in the daybooks of the London warehouse. The scenes were taken by Boreman from original paintings, most likely by Thomas Jones. See A P Ledger, G L Pendred and R A Hallet, 'The 'Hafod' Service', Derby Porcelain International Society Newsletter, No.27, p.5, where the attribution to Boreman is discussed. The original entry from the London daybook is reproduced on p.9, fig.2. Other pieces are illustrated by John Twitchett, Derby Porcelain (1980), p.158 and F Brayshaw Gilhespy, Derby Porcelain (1961), pls.160-2. A large part of the service is on display in the National Museum Wales, Cardiff. A lecture by Andrew Renton entitled 'The Derby Hafod Service-Paradise Painted on Porcelain' was presented online to the English Ceramic Circle on 23 July 2020.