Palissy Royal Collection Imari-Style Floral Trinket Tray – c.1970

When your backstamp says Royal Worcester Company, Est. 1751, you don’t really need to justify yourself to anyone. But Palissy Royal Collection does it anyway — with this beautifully executed Imari-style trinket tray that carries the weight of 270 years of English pottery tradition while somehow still looking completely at home on a modern shelf.

The pattern is bold, graphic and deeply satisfying: two large terracotta-red peonies — detailed, layered, full of life — sit against a bed of sweeping cobalt-navy foliage with gold accents woven throughout. Above them, an elegant spray of sage-grey fern fronds and small olive-green star flowers reaches upward. The whole composition sits on a warm ivory-cream ground, with a wavy, pie-crust shaped rim entirely edged in gold. It is, in a word, magnificent.

The shape alone sets this apart: that undulating scalloped rim gives it a fluid, almost organic quality that the more rigid round trays lack. At 12.5 cm across and a confident 115 grams, this is a proper piece with proper presence.

• Palissy Royal Collection, Royal Worcester Company, Est. 1751, England, c.1970
• Imari-inspired floral design: terracotta peonies, cobalt foliage, gold accents
• Sage fern fronds and olive star flowers
• Wavy pie-crust scalloped rim with full gold edge
• Warm ivory-cream ground
• Diameter: 12.5 cm
• Weight: 115 grams
• Condition: excellent vintage condition

WARNING: This tray has the kind of pattern that makes you realise your other homeware is, frankly, trying too hard while achieving too little. Maison de L’oro accepts no responsibility for any decorating crises triggered upon arrival.