Serving Dish With Butterflies and Bees

A large oval, Meissen porcelain dish with a wavy rim. It is marked with the crossed swords mark underneath. The surface is decorated in the centre and rim with butterflies, moths and other insects. This large serving dish comes from a service of more than 100 pieces commissioned by General Sir Richard Bourke, KCB, of Thornfields, Lisnagry, from the Meissen factory in 1820. The rim also bears a seated heraldic cat with an inscription: A CRUCE SALUS below. This decoration is hand painted and was added at a later date to the manufacture of the plate.