Carlton Ware was the trade mark used by the pottery manufacturer Wiltshaw and Robinson (their initials appear in the mark; see image 10), whose premises were located in Stoke on Trent, four years after the firm’s establishment in 1890. The firm mostly concentrated on decorative giftware and new methods of production introduced in the 1920s put it at the forefront of the earliest Art Deco pottery pieces produced, firstly with designs originating from Tutankhamun’s tomb and then with pieces with an Oriental influence, most famously the ‘Mikado pattern’ seen here. Designed by Horace Wain, the so called ‘Mikado’ range was inspired by the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta of the same name, combining both Chinese and Japanese elements to produce a decorative melody of Oriental design. The format of the mark here dates this bowl to the 1920s and before 1926 when the well known script mark was introduced but the decoration survives in excellent condition with little or no wear to the gilding allowing full appreciation of this inspired recreation of traditional Eastern designs.