Of the Royal Worcester artists in the early 20th century, William Ricketts (1862-1938) was one of the most esteemed. He was particularly recognised for his masterful fruit painting with distinctively ‘out-of-focus’ mottled backgrounds. These small signed plates are set in Chester hallmarked silver and dated 1913 with maker’s mark for Lowe and Sons, themselves Chester-based silver merchants.

The silver setting of both dishes is slightly ‘off’ circle, particularly the one with the pear painting. The signatures on both dishes are partially obscured by the silver surround. See photos for explicit detail.