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unusual pattern on a plate - Greek or Cyrillic text? Posted by jessica on June 3, 2008, 8:05 am 92.3.113.44 I am very curious about this plate & wonder if anyone has seen similar. It is earthenware, 25cm diameter & I think mid 19th century. No makers mark of course. Any ideas welcome - a translation especially so! (The picture of the text looks a little out of focus; this is because the print is slightly blurred.) http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y111/jesdavies/plate.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y111/jesdavies/plateborder.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y111/jesdavies/platetext.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y111/jesdavies/platebase.jpg  Post a Response

Re: unusual pattern on a plate - Greek or Cyrillic text? Posted by Dick Henrywood on June 5, 2008, 3:04 pm, in reply to "unusual pattern on a plate - Greek or Cyrillic text?" 91.125.231.215 Jessica I have never seen this pattern before but I feel quite strongly that it must have been made to special order, almost certainly using a border already engraved for another pattern. Can I suggest a plan of action: 1. Get the text translated - could be very interesting to see what it says since it might give a clue about its origins. I find an approach to your local college or university languages department will probably turn up some expert who will be pleased to help. They love puzzles! 2. Try and locate the border. This shouldn't be too hard but it does takes ages scanning through books such as the Snyder and the Williams & Weber volumes. Research is great fun. Let everyone know what you find out. Kind regards Dick P.S. Any chance of a really high resolution image via my email address?  Post a Response

Re: unusual pattern on a plate - Greek or Cyrillic text? Posted by jessica on June 8, 2008, 4:41 pm, in reply to "Re: unusual pattern on a plate - Greek or Cyrillic text?" 92.3.113.44 The internet is truly a marvellous thing! I posted a message on one of the eBay message boards firstly to find out what language this is & a few hours later it was identified as Armenian - I would never have found that! I emailed the Armenian Community UK & today had a delightful reply; Dear Ms. Davies, You have a lovely antique! and you are right in thinking the writing is in Armenian. The wording is headed " The Lords Prayer" and the wording in the main paragraph is the whole of the Lords Prayer, starting " Our Father" and ending " Amen". Although I have no expertise in such things, I have noticed that the typeface used is distinctive and very similar to the unique type invented in 1810 in the Armenian Catholic Mechetarist Order Monastery in Venice where large quantities of Armenian religious books were printed in their own printing works throughout the 19th and 20th Centuries ( The Capital letter is upright and extends from above to well below the centre line, whereas the lower case lettering has a slight lean to the right. I attach sample of print in .jpg ). I would guess that you are therefore correct in thinking the age of the plate is early to mid 19th Century, however, unless there is specific marking on the back of the plate indicating British manufacture, one might wish to seriously consider the possiblilty that the plate might have been made in Venice by or in association with the Armenian Mekhitarist monks of Venice. Kind regards  Post a Response

Re: unusual pattern on a plate - Greek or Cyrillic text? Posted by TCC Web Administrator on June 8, 2008, 5:16 pm, in reply to "Re: unusual pattern on a plate - Greek or Cyrillic text?" 75.36.137.241 Hi Jessica: I am most appreciative that you have followed up on this plate. I did a bit of sleuthing, myself, along the lines of Greek, and came up with a suggestion that the language was a form of Greek called Katharevousa conceived in the early 19th Century. Your findings seem much more promising if not conclusive. I do, however, think the plate is of English manufacture. I have asked some others to try to come up with a maker or more information based on the border. We will see. Have you any more interesting pieces? David  Post a Response

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