Neat find out of a home. This is a vintage small square plate or dish that could be a side dish, side plate, small pin dish or small trinket dish. Marked on backside as made by Lancaster & Sandland Ltd. (Limited) of Hanley, Staffordshire, England, as part of their Sandland Ware line.

The "Hanley, Staffordshire, England" words on the backside mark are extremely light and not readable on this piece. However, we had a second identical dish from the same home which already sold. On that piece these words were clearly there, so we can guarantee that this is what was meant to be shown here and is correct for this item.

Frontside decor is a mult-color image of the French military leader Napoleon Bonaparte, who served as the first consul of France from 1799-1804, and then as the first Emperor of France from 1804-1814/15. From some internet research we identified this as Napoleon, in a typical stance with one hand inserted into his front clothing or waistcoat. Shown in what we think is French military attire with what appears to be two medals hanging on the chest of his largely emerald green outfit that has gold double buttons down the front and gold epaulettes on his shoulders, with the top or handle or hilt of his sword shown at his waist.

Square ceramic or pottery piece (this is not porcelain as it is not translucent), measuring about 4 1/4 inches per side. The center section is lowered with upturned sides having rounded corners, sitting about 1/2 inch in height. There is gold line edging on the top rim. Ivory white base and background color, with underside just ivory with the manufacturer marking printed in a light green. Impressed near this is the number "224" which may be the piece or pattern number. Weighs about 3 ounces unpacked.

We've provided two images each of the topside and backside with the manufacturer mark. The camera lighting creates white "hot spot" reflections on the smooth glossy surfaces. It also makes the already light manufacturer mark difficult to photograph. To show the mark better, the two backside images were shot without the camera light, but this also makes them appear darker. Please use the zoom feature to examine closely.

While in nice overall vintage condition, this piece does show its age and has flaws. The Napoleon decor is clear & bright, and the gold line edging is in great shape. But this piece is all-over crazed with a fine crazing, top and bottom sides. There are no chips, separate large line cracks, or scratches. But you can see in the topside images that there are a number of browning areas that show as light brown spots or lines. These are clustered on and near the top of Napoleon's body on both sides, with particularly a small browning crazing line to the left of his nose and several on his face, and some dots of brown or black on and near his head/hair, as well as elsewhere (the closeup image makes this browning much more visible than you will see in person but you need to know this is there).

As made there are a lot of tiny pin/pit dots in the top glazing on the topside of this piece (not much on the backside). You don't really see these with this sitting on a table on display, but may see them as bright pin dots on the green coat in our close-up image due to the camera light reflection, and in person if you look closely, holding this at an angle in bright light. On the underside there are some tiny dark/pin/pit dots and stray gold paint dots/lines, and a small scar/indented area that is not glazed but may be due to glaze popping in manufacture, we're not sure (the other dish had the same thing in the same place which is why we think this is a manufacturing flaw rather than a wear/use chip). Other light general wear, etc.

A fun gift for anyone interested in French history, building a collection related to famous people of France or military figures in general, or a collection of pieces related to General Napoleon Bonaparte in particular.