COCK & PEONY

Carlton Ware's COCK & PEONY pattern and its Border

Whilst studying Chinese ceramics at art school, Horace Wain—Carlton Ware’s designer and decorating manager (active roughly between 1913 and 1922)—would have seen many illustrations of Oriental porcelains. In the early 1900s, several authoritative tomes were published on old and esteemed Chinese pottery, a testament to how en vogue Chinese designs had become at the time. Indeed, around the turn of the century, the term “Chinamania” was used to describe their popularity.

The rooster, or cockerel, is an honoured creature in China and the tenth sign of the Chinese zodiac. It is frequently depicted on Oriental porcelain and was consequently replicated by Wain. In addition to viewing illustrations of such portrayals, Wain may also have encountered examples in local private collections, at the Hanley Museum, or at the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington, London. In 1909, the V&A was bequeathed a large collection of Chinese antiquities, which—once catalogued—was placed on display in 1911.

Fowl Play

Enter Horace Wain’s COCK & PEONY pattern for Carlton Ware. Below left is a Chinese export porcelain plate from around 1730. Wain’s interpretation of the fowl shares a similar composition, as seen on the adjacent plaque with its powder blue ground.

Click or tap on the image above to enlarge.
To return to this page use your back button.

Like many of Wain’s patterns, COCK & PEONY was produced in both right- and left-hand versions to allow for matched pairs. In one, the birds face right; in the other, they face left. Carlton Ware’s pattern records list twenty variants, suggesting that the design was in high demand. Examples bearing CLOISONNE WARÉ and ARMAND LUSTRE backstamps have surfaced.

Wain was fond of introducing special backstamps. Occasionally, examples of Carlton Ware's COCK & PEONY are found bearing the backstamp shown right. It features a vignette of the pattern encircled by curlicues and "clouds" or "smoke" in a Chinese style. The backstamp tells us that the pattern was part of Carlton Ware's KANG HSI range (though spelt Kang He). It also tells us that the pattern was registered as a design in 1918, though its pattern number suggests that it was introduced somewhat earlier—either just before or during World War One. As I mention in another article in this series, this later date is probably down to the war having curtailed and delayed many Civil Service and government processes as so many administrators were called up to fight in the War.

I write this on the day of a total solar eclipse. I’ve read that some observers bring a rooster to hear it crow as sunlight returns. Is it fanciful to suggest that Wain’s irregular decoration around the circle enclosing the cockerel and flower represents the eclipse at totality—when the solar corona and loops of plasma become visible? The more I study the mark, the more convinced I am that I could be right. Wain was known to be playful in his work (and so am I!).

The COCK & PEONY Border

Barb has cleverly redrawn the COCK & PEONY border as below.
Similar borders are found on Chinese ceramics.

Below, Barb shows us how the border looks on different grounds.

The COCK & PEONY Narrow Border

A simpler border was also used with the pattern, which would have more suited certain shapes and especially when used as an internal border as on the inside of the rim on the yellow vase above. This was identified by Barb, who has redrawn it for us below. Tap or click on it to see colour variations.

© Harvey Pettit 2025
V3 Revised and expanded November 2025.
If new or more accurate information comes to light, I will update this page.

Barb would like to thank Chris Meallin, for supplying good quality images to enable her replicate the borders above.

The next pattern in the sequence of Horace Wain's Chinoiserie patterns with an associated border is MIKADO.

NOTE - To help you avoid mixing up pattern and shape names I use some simple typographic conventions. You can read them by clicking or tapping on the button on the left below.