Blue and white china has been around forever, and Wood & Sons Yuan china pattern
has been around in some form since 1907. Blue and white is one of the most
popular color combinations when it comes to china -- and I should know,
because it's my favorite!
Estate sale china finds are the best, especially
when the find turns into a legitimate haul!
Welcome to Thrifted vs Styled! Today's edition features a h-u-g-e vintage estate
sale Yuan pattern blue and white china haul that I am totally in love with.
My daughters recently attended an estate sale and bought me 33 pieces of Yuan porcelain for half of the estate sale price - $25! I can honestly say that I've taught them well!
This post is my attempt at sharing some background information regarding the history of Wood & Sons in general and the Yuan patterned china in particular. If you're not much interested in the history, you can always scroll down to the beauty shots near the end of the post!
History of Wood & Sons Yuan China
The gorgeous blue and white Yuan pattern, consisting of various birds, floral panels and a hashed block design on the border was designed by Frederick Reid. Production began in 1907, and the pattern was officially registered in 1916.
The pattern is a reproduction of a 13th century Yuan Dynasty china pattern. The Yuan Dynasty was part of the Mongol Empire founded by Genghis Khan. The dynasty existed from 1279-1368 when it was finally defeated by the Ming Dynasty.
The Yuan pattern was manufactured by Wood & Sons in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England. The company was founded by Absalom Wood and his son Thomas Wood in 1865. The company existed in some form (under new management in 1982) until it finally closed in 2005.
It is believed that most Yuan pieces were manufactured between 1916 and 1980.
How Old Is My Yuan Pattern China?
While I can comment on some generalities, I don't know more than I do know when it comes to the year of manufacture. The "Easter eggs" when it comes to dating this china are all over the map. What I do know is shared below.
1. Maker's Mark
One way of estimating the age of the piece is by looking at the maker's mark.
Almost all of my Yuan pattern pieces have the maker's mark depicted above, consisting of: "Yuan" -- {some form of bird} -- Wood & Sons -- England -- R. No. 656368.
(NOTE: The number 12 in red Sharpie, above, means there was an asking price of $12 per 5" bowl when sold individually. As in most cases, it was cheaper to buy the whole group of dishes than to buy the individual pieces.)
Apparently, the Asian-inspired bird painted on the bottom of the piece can vary from one piece to another, as can the birds on the front of the piece. The bird painted on the front of this 5" bowl is an Asian bird looking left with four tail feathers.
While all my pieces have the same bird image on the bottom, some maker's mark images display a different number of leaves on the ground on either side of the bird. And some maker's mark birds have different beaks and tails depending on when they were manufactured.
How all those differences correspond to the years of manufacture, I can't say.
This bowl is 7" in diameter and has a completely different bird on it than the 5" bowl. It also has a slightly different maker's mark on the bottom.
While it has the same Reference Number (656368), it also says "Made in England" on the last line. The "Made in England" mark on Yuan china was supposedly used from 1926-1930. It's a definite distinction from the maker's mark on most of my other Yuan pieces that only say "England" on them.
The word "England" normally indicates a manufacture date after 1891. "Made in England" [supposedly] indicates a 20th century manufacture date. The country of manufacture was included after an American law was introduced requiring imported goods to be so marked.
-- Made in England -- what you can learn from a pottery backstamp by Phil Rowley
The U.S. law referred to above was enacted in 1890 (known as the McKinley Tariff) and was later supplemented by the Tariff Act of 1930.
I have 7 saucers (but only two tea cups to go with them, unfortunately) that also say "Made in England," but it's on the first line above the "Yuan" as opposed to the last line.
I also have a sugar and creamer set that says "Made in England" on the last line.
Last but not least as to maker's marks, I have a 7" bowl with the number "2" painted on the top line as part of the maker's mark. It's the ONLY piece out of the 33 pieces that has a number on the top line.
The bird on the front of this 7" bowl is left facing, with a head, beak and tail feathers that are somewhat different from all the other birds.
2. Company Name
Wood & Sons was established in 1865.
One website that tracks pottery marks breaks down their maker's marks as follows:
1."Wood & Son" mark circa 1865-1907;
2. "Wood & Sons" mark circa 1907+;
3. Wood & Sons Ltd. mark circa 1910+. (I'm not sure why Wood & Sons Ltd. maker's mark would be used in 1910 since, according to my research, the company did not become an actual limited corporation until 1954.)
My Yuan pattern pieces are specifically listed with a maker's mark of "Wood & Sons, England" circa 1916+.
3. Type of Bird
Not only can the bird on the bottom of the piece differ. The birds on the central panels vary as well. Some examples:
- oriental bird looking left
- two birds looking left
- two birds; one nesting and one looking right
- small bird looking left, in flight
Around the 1930's a different looking bird appeared. It was more like a sparrow or robin -- but still with oriental tail feathers (as seen on large bowl at top of picture).
4. Date Stamp
Some of the larger pieces, like platters, were actually date-stamped with a month and year of manufacture. This was done from 1930 until the beginning of World War II, or 1939.
My smaller platter was stamped, but it's almost impossible to decipher the date. It looks like 7/29, meaning July 1929, but I can't be sure.
That date does ring true since the bird on the front of the platter looks like a sparrow or robin with oriental tail feathers which came about in the late 1920's-1930's.
Ironically, my larger 12" platter wasn't date-stamped. It did have a totally different type of bird on it, indicating that it was probably manufactured at a different time.
(Even my 7" bowl is stamped on the bottom with a date, but I'll be darned if I can read it.)
5. Shape of Yuan China
It's been said that octagonal shaped pieces, like this sugar bowl and creamer, are from the earlier years (1920's -1930's) versus more rounded pieces which were from the 1950's -1960's.
The details in the paintings are just gorgeous.
As is the hashed blocked detail design on all of the pieces.
I'm looking forward to collecting even more unique pieces to add to my Yuan china collection. For now I'm just going to enjoy using the Yuan china pieces I do have.
The blue and white Yuan pattern works seamlessly with other blue and white china pieces I have like this blue onion creamer.
I had fun mixing and matching different pieces to create a tablescape.
Other pieces, like this platter, sit on a shelf above the dining room sideboard.
More Yuan pieces sit on the sideboard, mixing in seamlessly with a blue and white Asian-inspired table lamp.
After I received the lot of blue and white Yuan china pieces, I realized I already had ANOTHER estate sale vintage piece of blue and white china that might just match the Yuan china. I was very excited at the revelation. Stay tuned for that reveal and a more in-depth reveal of the mix and match Yuan tablescape!
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