Ceramic plate from Wormley & Son catering service

A white ceramic dinner plate with a blue printed design around the border. The design is a repeating motif of birds, leaves and curving tendrils. On the verso, the plate is stamped with the business name of "WORMLEY & SON", the name of the catering business owned and operated by James Wormley and his sons in the late 19th century in Washington, DC. The plate also is stamped with the maker's mark “GREENWOOD CHINA, Trenton, N.J.", a style of stamp that Greenwood China started using in 1886.

Credit: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Gift of Mavis Wormley Davis Family