THE HISTORY OF BLUE WILLOW

Thomas Turner is widely believed to have introduced the now world famous Blue Willow China pattern in the late 18th century and the original engraving by Thomas Minton is still on display in Coalport. China. For nearly a century and a half the Blue Willow China Pattern was the stock pattern for almost every British Pottery Manufacturer, and over the years it is come in and out of fashion and recently has seen a steady and strong following that shows no sign of waning.

The traditional willow pattern features a large beautiful Chinese home and a willow tree as the two dominating features. There is also a small bridge with 3 figures crossing, a servants house at the foot of the bridge, a small Chinese boat and the famous love birds above the willow tree. It is the story behind these items that has allowed this beautiful design to maintain its collectible fan base.

Blue Willow China

THE BLUE WILLOW LEGEND

A Mandarin had a stunningly beautiful daughter, Koong-se, who fell in love with her fathers employed secretary, Chang Who. The Mandarin man who thought the secretary as a unworthy suitor of his daughter forbid them to see each other and banished the secretary. He then built a fence around the gardens of his estate so that Chang could no longer look upon his daughter and Koong-se could only walk in the gardens and to the water's edge.

Not soon afterwords Koong-se discovered that she had been betrothed to a noble warrior, Ta-jin. While many women of her time would have been pleased with this arrangement, Koong-se was desperate and when it was announced that her future husband, the noble warrior, was to arrive bearing a gift of jewels to celebrate his betrothal.

After the banquet thrown to announce her marriage Chang borrowed the robes of a servant and passed through the guests without incident and enteredKoong-se's room. They passionately embraced and vowed to run away together. The Mandarin, the Duke, the guests, and all the servants had too much to drink the couple almost got away without being noticed, but Koong-se's father saw her at the last minute and gave chase across the bridge.

The two lovers escaped and stayed with a maid that Koong-se's father had dismissed for conspiring with the couple. Not one to give up so easily, the Mandarin had sent out spies to search for the couple and one night one of these spies reported that a man was hiding in a house down by the river. Guards raided the house and but Chang had jumped into the ragging torrent to escape and Koong-se thought that he had drowned. A few days later the guards returned to search the house again. While Koong-se's maid talked to them, Chang came by boat to the window and took Koong-se away to safety.

After they escaped they settled on a distant island, and over the years Chang became famous for his writings. This ultimately was a fatal mistake as the Mandarin learned about him and sent his guards to destroy him. Chang was put to the sword and Koong-se set fire to the house while she was still inside. After they had both perished the gods, touched by their love, immortalized them as two doves, eternally flying together in the sky.

BLUE WILLOW COLLECTORS

In my family, the Blue Willow China has been passed down for generations. There is a unique story behind each piece and these stories are what make each dish, platter, gravy boat or any other piece priceless! These stories are told each and every year when our family gathers for the Holidays and we set the table with this dinnerware.