James Giles (1718-80) is widely regarded as one of the finest china and glass painters of his day. Although no signed pieces are known, the work of his studio has been appreciated and categorized by its distinctive fresh palette and bold and confident execution.
Giles completed his apprenticeship in 1740 and in 1756 moved to Kentish town to take over an existing workshop and kiln. He moved to 82 Berwick Street in 1763 and in the same year he placed an advertisement in Thomas Mortimer's The Universal Director announcing that he was painting 'China and Enamel' from premises. He was based there until finally quitting the business in 1776/7. His surviving work is known on plain, cut and coloured glass, opaque white glass, Chinese and Liverpool porcelains but it is for his work on Worcester porcelain for which he is best known, though his relationship with the factory is not clear.
The exceptional Worcester service was reputedly commissioned for Sir Thomas Edwardes, whose descendants took the name Hope Edwardes in 1854. The reverse of the present dish bears a cutting from the 1901 Christie's sale lot description, which comprised: "a pair of oval pierced dessert baskets, four smaller ditto, a pair of oval-shaped dishes, four smaller ditto, and twenty-four plates".
A second dish of this size was in the Sir Edward Ellington Collection, sold, Sotheby's London, November 29, 1960, lot 111, and subsequently sold at Sotheby's, October 22, 1985, lot 196. A dessert plate was in the Parkinson Collection, sold, Sotheby London, March 29, 1966, lot 105. Two further dessert plates are now in the British Museum, London, reg. no. 1921,1215.32.CR.