Chelsea shape plate, 9 inches diameter. Black transfer with polychrome clobbering. Impressed maker's mark for W. T. Copeland & Sons. The impressed T/80 indicates the plate form was manufactured in August 1880. This elegant design consists of a thorny branch of unripe blackberries with flowers and leaves curling around one edge of the plate. A small bunch of ripe blackberries sits at the top right.

W. T. Copeland was the only son of William Copeland, partner of Josiah Spode in the Stoke Potteries, of Staffordshire and of Portugal Street, London. He succeeded his father as head of the porcelain firm in Portugal Street, London and eventually bought out the interests of the Spode family in the business in the Potteries and London. He ran the business in partnership with Thomas Garrett between 1833 and 1847. After the dissolution of the Copeland and Garrett partnership, it traded as W. T. Copeland and Sons. (1847-1976). In 1866 Copeland was appointed china and glass manufacturer to the Prince of Wales.