Vintage Royal Albert Royal Ascot Side Plate – Yellow Jasmine on Black Ground, Gilt Scalloped Rim, Bone China, England 1980s

Clusters of yellow jasmine press against a black ground at the rim — their petals bright as lamplight, their leaves a deep summer green — and between them, tiny red berries and half-open pink buds fill every gap. The black dissolves inward like ink washed by rain, and delicate trailing sprays of the same jasmine drift across the white centre, growing smaller and lighter until they fade into bone china.

The plate is a side plate — the piece that sits beside the teacup in a traditional English tea setting, sized for a biscuit, a slice of cake, or a finger sandwich. The scalloped rim follows a gentle wave, and every curve is traced in gold. The contrast between the dense, dark floral border and the open white centre gives the plate a presence that its modest six inches would not otherwise suggest.

Royal Albert was founded in 1896 by Thomas Clark Wild at Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, receiving the "Royal" prefix by appointment in 1904. The Royal Ascot pattern — named for the most celebrated event in the English racing calendar, held each June near Windsor since 1711 — belongs to the brand's later era, when Royal Albert began experimenting with darker grounds and bolder colour contrasts. The polychrome backstamp dates this piece to the 1980s. Royal Albert joined Allied English Potteries in 1964 and Royal Doulton in 1972; all pieces marked "Bone China England" are discontinued collectibles.