Antique English majolica cheese dome and stand by George Jones

The cheese cover is of oval form, with a flat base. It is covered with a cobalt blue underglaze and encircled by a brown band which is modelled as a woven wicker basket. The body is topped by a single handle which takes the form of a plum blossom branch with pink flowers and green foliage. The dome sits on a similarly decorated stand.

George Jones was a prestigious ceramic factory which was established in Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England in the 1860s. The firm’s director, George Jones, was apprenticed by Minton and worked for Wedgewood before founding his own pottery company. Jones was joined in the 1870s by his two sons, Frank Ralph and George Henry Jones, and the business was renamed ‘George Jones & Sons’. The company continued to be managed by the family until the early 20^th Century. George Jones (& Sons) won a medal at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1867 and their work was widely celebrated at the international exhibitions in London (1871), Vienna (1873) and Sydney (1876).