plate

The image on this plate illustrates sawyers at work, two in a saw-pit, another carrying timber. The reverse bears an inscription 'Charles Cordy of Norwich 1758'. Inscribed delftware is not unusual but it is rare to find an inscription which can be directly connected both to its illustration and to a clearly identified owner. Charles Cordy worked as a sawyer in Norwich at St Stephen's Street, only a street away from Norwich Castle, from around 1755-1780s.

Tin-glazed 'delftwares' did depict contemporary scenes of everyday life as well as images of royalty and public figures, stylised landscapes and motifs in Oriental or Dutch style, but images of sawyers at work are not common. Cordy presumably commissioned this plate especially, perhaps as an advertisement for his shop. The design of the saw used by the two men working in the saw-pit is Dutch, as is the style of the image. This suggests that the painter may have used either a Dutch print, or a Dutch delftware tile, for reference. There were many inhabitants of Dutch extraction in Norwich and Norfolk during the eighteenth century, although it is not at present known if Cordy's family had Dutch connections. It is possible that he may have supplied the image for this plate himself.