Nursery ware: Plate

Crown Lynn Nursery Ware

This set of children's nursery ware made by Crown Lynn in about 1987 includes a plate and bowl. It is decorated with nursery characters by English illustrator Norman Meredith (1909 – 2005).

The illustrations on this set refer to popular children's nursery rhyme characters and themes such as the 'dish running away with the spoon' and the rhyme ‘Simple Simon met a pieman’ by Mother Goose:

Simple Simon met a pieman
Going to the fair;
Says Simple Simon to the pieman,
"Let me taste your ware."

Says the pieman to Simple Simon,
"Show me first your penny."
Says Simple Simon to the pieman,
"Indeed, I have not any."

Simple Simon went a-fishing
For to catch a whale:
All the water he had got
Was in his mother's pail!

Crown Lynn’s nursery ware, first produced in the 1950s, was set up in competition to the popular Royal Doulton Bunnykins range. During the 1980s Crown Lynn’s nursery ware was one of their most successful lines and included characters from television shows such as Paddington Bear, the Wombles, Sesame Street, Pirate Pete and Sally Anne, and some Disney characters. ('Crown Lynn. A New Zealand Icon' by Valerie Ringer Monk, 2006)