Ceramic plate

The design on this plate, popular in the late 1800s, was inspired by patterns from the Oudh State, established as part of the Mughal Empire in the 1500s. This region, like the rest of the Indian subcontinent, was completely taken over by the British by the 1850s. Oudh was re-established as the state of Uttar Pradesh in 1950. The mixture of stylised flowers, fretwork frames and scrolls draws on a range of inspirations but shows how the culture of the territories of the British Empire influenced daily life in Britain.