Booths Real Old Willow Blue and White Food Warmer Bowl

At 4.5 cm tall and 23 cm wide, this Booths Real Old Willow blue and white food warmer bowl, complete with its original stopper and gilt accent detail, is a rare and distinguished piece of early 20th-century English transferware, the food warmer form, which was designed to keep food warm at the table by means of hot water placed in the base, being among the more unusual and sought-after forms in the English transferware tradition.

Made by Booths of Tunstall, Staffordshire, and bearing the Booths mark to the base, this food warmer bowl is decorated with the Real Old Willow pattern, Booths' version of the classic Willow landscape that is distinguished by the addition of gilt accent detail to the cobalt blue transfer decoration, giving the piece a formal elegance that the ungilded versions of the pattern cannot match. Booths, which was founded in 1891 and produced transferware of consistently high quality until the mid-20th century, was known for its Real Old Willow pattern, which was produced in a range of forms for the domestic and export markets and is now among the most sought-after of all English Willow pattern transferware. The food warmer bowl, with its original stopper intact, is a particularly rare find, the stopper being the element most frequently lost or damaged in pieces of this type, and the gilt accent detail, which adds a note of formal elegance to the cobalt blue transfer decoration, gives the piece a decorative richness that distinguishes it from the ungilded Willow pattern pieces. The piece is in good condition with age-appropriate wear.

• Maker: Booths, Tunstall, Staffordshire, England
• Pattern: Real Old Willow
• Dimensions: 4.5 cm (H) x 23 cm (W)
• Condition: Good
• Features: Original stopper, gilt accent detail, food warmer form, Booths mark to base
• Period: Early 20th century
• SKU: SKU-00250

A distinguished and rare piece of English transferware for the serious blue and white collector. Pairs naturally with the Burleigh Ware Willow serving tray and the wider Blues and Whites collection.