Vintage Hall Pottery Oyster Plate

Description

American made oyster plate in white. Marked 1151. Size: 10.5”D

On the history of oyster plates:

From the mid-1800’s on oysters delighted refined Victorians at elegant dinners from Europe to America as a requisite premier cours! Manuscript cookbooks as well as home etiquette and domestic guides listed them as a must on dinner menus.

Seafood was increasingly available to middle and upper class Victorians regardless of proximity to the sea as transportation from the water inland increased in speed and reach and the production and keeping of ice improved. Service à la Russe in which servants bring each course to the table on platters to be served and/or pre-plated became popular roughly at the same time. The Victorian’s simply loved their tableware and dining accessories: thus the oyster plate!

A plate made especially to hold only one thing: oysters. With little wells for the oysters to nestle in and indentations for condiments, oyster dishes are an elegant solution to serving and displaying the requisite premier cours! Oysters could be served baked, raw, on the half shell or shucked. They were also popular in pie type pastries and as stuffing.

Oyster plates come in a wide variety of styles and colors – highly adorned and beautifully simple. They were made by a variety of ceramic makers in France, Germany, America, and beyond.

Read this post for my full examination of the oyster plate.