Blue Willow pottery was born in the late 1700s by a gentleman named Thomas Turner. First manufactured at Caughley Pottery Works in England, Blue Willow pieces quickly grew to become popular dishes for use in the home.
The idea behind the pottery’s transfer pattern is an old Chinese legend. The pottery depicts 3 pictures: a bridge, a pagoda, a pair of birds and a landscape. The story states that in China, long ago there was a beautiful woman named Kwang-se. In times where marriages were arranged, her father had promised her to be the bride of a wealthy merchant. He was older in years and Kwang-se was not interested in being married to a man twice her age. She fell in love with her father’s shop apprentice and the two lovers quickly eloped to a small island.
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The angry father soon found out the location of his truant daughter and poor apprentice and traveled to their cottage to kill them. As he was about to strike, the gods changed the two lovers into a pair of turtledoves, and they flew away to be together. You can see the 2 lovebirds facing one another on each piece of Blue Willow pottery.
Blue Willow is still being produced today, and continues to be popular in American, English, German and Japanese homes.
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