“Flora” Patterns

Flora is the goddess of flowers and the season of spring in Roman mythology, embodying the beauty and vitality of nature. She represents the blossoming of flowers and the renewal of life that comes with the warmer months. Festivals in her honor marked the arrival of spring, when the earth awakens from the cold grasp of winter. Her name has been preserved in English as the word for all the plant life present in a particular region or time. Given the British love of gardening and flowers, it is no surprise that many potteries produced floral patterns named “Flora.”

The plate on the left and the platter at center are by John Meir, in production from 1812 to 1836 in Tunstall, Staffordshire. They are two of the three "Flora Pattern" variations by Meir in the TCC Database. The plate and the well and tree platter is pattern #18049. The “Flora” jug was made by John Hall (& Sons), located in Burslem, Staffordshire from 1814 to 1832. It is pattern #4260 in the database. There are more than twenty floral patterns with “Flora” in their names in the database.