SPODE ENGLAND ITALIAN PATTERN MILK PITCHER DATE MARKED 2001

A CUTE COPELAND SPODE ENGLAND MILK PITCHER IN THE POPULAR BLUE ITALIAN PATTERN. THERE IS A LOT TO BE SAID ABOUT THIS MILK PITCHER PLEASE READ ON.
 
MARKINGS: PRINTED BACKSTAMP USED FROM 1970-2009
The Italian pattern was in production by the Spode company from 1816 to 2009. The printed backstamp in our Milk Pitcher (COPELAND SPODE MADE IN ENGLAND ITALIAN) was used from 1970 to 2009.
In 1970, to celebrate the supposed bicentenary of the founding of the company, the name reverted to Spode with a new logo designed by John Sutherland Hawes. Taking inspiration from the early 19th century red painted Spode marks plus later (from 1976) printed adaptations he produced the 'Gothic' style logo in red which became world famous. This is the name used until the closure of the factory in 2009. 
DATE MARK A1 FOR 2001:
A great help to dating wares from the late 1800s to 1963 is that there are often impressed marks on pieces which give you the month and the year. Datemarks after 1963 until 2009 are indicated by a printed letter associated with particular backstamps and are a little complicated.  In 2000 a new series of letters began. The year 2000 was given A0 (ie letter A number 0); 2001 was A1 etc until the close of the factory in 2009.
 
SIZE: 12CM LONG FROM SPOUT TO HANDLE10CM HIGH 6CM WIDE

CONDITION: NO CHIPS. NO CRACKS. IN GOOD CONDITION.
 
ITALIAN PATTERN :
Unlike many of the other classical scene patterns on Spode of the early 1800s, the origin of the view for the Italian pattern is not certain. The scene has puzzled collectors for many years.
Researchers have carried out architectural quests to trace the building types in an attempt to unravel the mystery of the source of the Italian scene. They found there is no one place in Italy that seems to correspond to all the features included in the picture. The scene is a composition made up of several elements. The ruin on the left, although architecturally incorrect, might have been based on the Great Bath at Tivoli, near Rome. The row of houses along the left bank of the river is similar to those of the Latium area near Umbria, north of Rome. The castle in the distance is of a type which occurs only in Northern Italy in the regions of Piedmont and Lombardy.
The suggestion is that a travelling artist from Northern Europe made sketches of the scenes he encountered as he made his way through Italy. On his return home the sketches were combined into an attractive scene which, later, Spode used and chose to call the Italian Pattern.
From its introduction as a Spode pattern Italian was an immediate success. Remarkably it  has retained its immense popularity for over 200 years and was a huge commercial success for the Spode company. The reason for its tremendous appeal is difficult to place. Some have suggested that is is due to its similarity to the popular blue Chinese export porcelain from the 1700s.
 
SPODE (1766 - present): Josiah Spode apprenticed as a potter in the mid-1700s. By 1754, he went to work for William Banks in Stoke-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, England. Later, he started his own pottery business, making cream-colored earthenware.
Spode pioneered the use of steam-powered, pottery-making machinery and mastered the art of transfer printing from copper plates,. Spode opened a London shop in 1778 and sent William Copeland there in about 1784. By the early 1830s, Copeland fully acquired the Spode operations in London and took over the Stoke plant operations until his death in 1868, when he passed the business onto his heirs.
After 250 years Spode is still designed in Britain (Although in 2009 the British Portmeirion Group purchased the Spode brand.) and has now become synonymous with British ceramics.
 
MARKINGS:
There are more than 300 identifying marks, datemarks and backstamps on Copeland Spode going back as far as 1770, according to Heirlooms Antiques Centre. These marks are divided into four main categories, including early Spode from 1770 to 1833, Copeland & Garrett from 1833 to 1847, WT Copeland from 1847 to 1970 and and reverting back to just Spode from 1970 to 2022.
THE SEALMARK SEEN WAS FIRST INTRODUCED IN 1833.
IN 1891 THE WORD ENGLAND WAS FIRST ADDED TO THE MARK.
UNTIL 1903 IT HAS A C IN THE CENTER OF IT FOR COPELAND.
IN 1904 TO 1954 THE WORD SPODE WAS ADDED TO THE COPELAND MARK AFTER AN ABSENCE OF 66 YEARS SINCE 1833.
IN 1954 THE S AFTER COPELAND WAS OMITTED FROM MARKS AND IN 1956 THE WORD BONE CHINA REPLACED COPELAND IN THE MARK.
In 1970, to celebrate the supposed bicentenary of the founding of the company, the name reverted to Spode with a new logo designed by John Sutherland Hawes. Taking inspiration from the early 19th century red painted Spode marks plus later (from 1976) printed adaptations he produced the 'Gothic' style logo in red which became world famous. This is the name used until the closure of the factory in 2009. 
FROM 1976 THE SPODE LOGO CHANGED TO RED AND THE WORD FINE WAS ADDED TO BONE CHINA IN BLACK.
From 1870 to 1963 Copeland often used an impressed mark to indicate the month/year of manufacture. After 1963 to 2009 they used printed date marks.
 
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