Elizabeth I Commemorative plate or charger

This plate is dated 1600 and inscribed with the words: ‘THE ROSE IS RED THE LEAVES ARE GRENE GOD SAVE ELIZABETH OUR QUEENE’. It is the earliest dated, commemorative piece of English delftware. The plate was probably made at a delftware pottery in Aldgate. This pottery was established in 1571 by two potters from Antwerp, Jasper Andries and Jacob Janson. The rim has a blue-dash edge and the flange is decorated with arabesques on an ochre ground. In the centre of the plate is a scene depicting a fanciful cityscape of towers and turrets, crenellated walls and a jumble of gabled buildings with the moat or river in the foreground. It is generally considered to be a visualization of the City of London or the Tower of London.