Posted 12 years ago
nativeorig…
(25 items)
These are goregous china plates. I wish I knew how much they are worth? Shenango china started making these seperated plates for diners. This emblem is the very first one they stamped. This one is dated back to 1901.
I understand that this is called "Willow Ware". I have several pieces in red. There is a story about a father chasing his daughter and her lover as they run over the bridge. If someone knows about this design, I would like to hear about it.
Shenango Blue Willow Grill Plate, of 10 recently recorded sales of these the average price was about $15.00 each (priceminer.com)
By the way that would be without the crack.
The Blue Willow pattern tells a story which you can follow along with by looking at the images on the plate. Here it is:
"There was once a Mandarin who had a beautiful daughter, Koong-se. He employed a secretary, Chang who, while he was attending to his master's accounts, fell in love with Koong-se, much to the anger of the Mandarin, who regarded the secretary as unworthy of his daughter.
The secretary was banished and a fence constructed around the gardens of the Mandarin's estate so that Chang could not see his daughter and Koong-se could only walk in the gardens and to the water's edge.
One day a shell fitted with sails containing a poem, and a bead which Koong-se had given to Chang, floated to the water's edge. Koong-se knew that her lover was not far away.
She was soon dismayed to learn that she had been betrothed to Ta-jin, a noble warrior Duke. She was full of despair when it was announced that her future husband, the noble Duke, was arriving, bearing a gift of jewels to celebrate his betrothal.
However, after the banquet, borrowing the robes of a servant, Chang passed through the guests unseen and came to Koong-se's room. They embraced and vowed to run away together. The Mandarin, the Duke, the guests, and all the servants had drunk so much wine that the couple almost got away without detection, but Koong-se's father saw her at the last minute and gave chase across the bridge.
The couple escaped and stayed with the maid that Koong-se's father had dismissed for conspiring with the lovers. Koong-se had given the casket of jewels to Chang and the Mandarin, who was also a magistrate, swore that he would use the jewels as a pretext to execute Chang when he caught him.
One night the Mandarin's spies reported that a man was hiding in a house by the river and the Mandarin's guards raided the house. But Chang had jumped into the ragging torrent and Koong-se thought that he had drowned.
Some days later the guards returned to search the house again. While Koong-se's maid talked to them, Chang came by boat to the window and took Koong-se away to safety.
They settled on a distant island, and over the years Chang became famous for his writings. This was to prove his undoing. The Mandarin heard about him and sent guards to destroy him. Chang was put to the sword and Koong-se set fire to the house while she was still inside.
Thus they both perished and the gods, touched by their love, immortalised them as two doves, eternally flying together in the sky. "
What a wonderful story!!! I've never heard the full version before. I have a box in storage with several pieces of Red willow. Haven't looked at them in probably 30 years. I do remember they were not all made by the same company. Is the red as common as the blue? Blue is what I usually see.
Thank you for all your information!
Thank you for all your comments
I love these old grill plates. They are close to indestructible! I have one for my grandson so he can eat on blue willow like the grownups when he's here without having to worry about the plate getting broken. Thanks for sharing yours! :-)
Hello, I have a piece of cup or bowl that washed up in the beach I cannot find out what the pattern is the bottom has the Indian man and it says new castle pa . Shenango china.