Up until the 1920s transfer printed ceramics made in Staffordshire that revived early nineteenth-century pastoral imagery were exported to America in great quantity with little American competition. This British monopoly changed in the 1930s when Thorley started designing for Taylor Smith & Taylor. He designed five or six different patterns that pictured the same types of romantic castles and ruined abbeys as the popular Staffordshire wares. Thorley engraved the patterns himself and sometimes included his signature.










 

 

 

Plates, 1933-50
Fairway and Laurel shape, English Abbey pattern
Taylor, Smith & Taylor
Chester, West Virginia
Whiteware
Tureen, 1933-50
Fairway shape, English Abbey pattern
Taylor, Smith & Taylor
Chester, West Virginia
Whiteware
Lent by Clark Taggart Collection
Platter, 1933-50
Garland Shape, Castle pattern
Taylor, Smith & Taylor
Chester, West Virginia
Whiteware
Lent by Clark Taggart Collection
Plate, 1933-40
Garland shape, Castle pattern
Taylor, Smith & Taylor
Chester, West Virginia
Whiteware
Dinner Plate and Gravy Boat, 1940
Fairway shape, Center Bouquet pattern
Taylor, Smith & Taylor
Chester, West Virginia
Whiteware
Dinner Plate and Bread and Butter Plate, 1941
Laurel shape, Spring Bouquet pattern
Taylor, Smith & Taylor
Chester, West Virginia
Whiteware
Bread-and-Butter Plates, 1933-50
Marvel shape, Dogwood pattern with experimental colors
Taylor, Smith & Taylor
Chester, West Virginia
Whiteware with printed and hand-painted decoration
Lent by Clark Taggart Collection
Bread-and-Butter Plate, Saucer, and Gravy Boat, 1941
Vogue shape, Dogwood pattern
Taylor, Smith & Taylor
Chester, West Virginia
Whiteware

Tea Cup and Saucer, 1933-40
Garland shape, Castle pattern
Taylor, Smith & Taylor
Chester, West Virginia
Whiteware
Lent by Clark Taggart Collection