4 Franciscan Desert Rose Fruit Bowls

FOUR FRANCISCAN DESERT ROSE FRUIT / DESSERT BOWLS - HAND-PAINTED CALIFORNIA EARTHENWARE A set of four matching small round bowls in the Franciscan Desert Rose pattern, hand-painted California earthenware, each measuring approximately 5-3/4 inches across the scalloped rim and standing about 2-1/4 inches tall. These are the pattern's fruit, dessert, or berry bowls, the small deep round form that sat beside the dinner plate for fruit, pudding, cobbler, ice cream, or cereal. All four carry the full Desert Rose border in raised relief: opened pink wild roses with bright yellow centers dotted in dark brown, sculpted pink buds standing proud of the rim, green leaves in two tones, and a thorny olive-brown vine wrapping the molded scalloped edge. Interiors and exteriors are cream white with a glossy glaze, each footed on a low recessed ring. The undersides carry the brown dotted-oval Franciscan EARTHENWARE mark with a small printed number beneath. Sold as a matched service group, these bowls pair directly with the Desert Rose dinner plates, saucers, cup and saucer sets, larger serving and vegetable bowls, gravy boat, cookie jar, bud vase, and wine goblets offered elsewhere in this sale, and a bidder assembling a full table should watch those lots together. Sold as a lot of four pieces. Description Four small round fruit, dessert, or berry bowls in the Franciscan Desert Rose pattern, glazed earthenware Round with a molded scalloped and gently waved rim, curved sidewalls, and a low recessed foot ring Each measures approximately 5-3/4 inches across the rim per the overhead tape photograph, with the hook set at the near rim and the far rim edge falling near the 6 inch line Each stands approximately 2-1/4 inches tall per the profile tape photograph. The tape is hooked on the table surface in front of the bowl rather than held against it, so read the height as a close estimate. Decoration is the full Desert Rose border in raised relief under a glossy glaze: opened five-petal pink roses with elongated yellow centers dotted in dark brown, closed pink buds with green calyx leaves modeled in relief, green leaves, and a continuous thorny olive to brown vine following the scalloped rim, with a brown vine wash carried over the outer rim edge Bowl wells are plain cream white below the border; exteriors are glazed white to the foot Undersides are glazed white with a recessed foot ring and small round stilt or kiln-support points, which are normal firing artifacts of manufacture rather than damage Backstamp, photographed close up and digitally enhanced, is the brown dotted oval with Franciscan in script over EARTHENWARE, the copyright and registered symbols, and MADE IN U.S.A. curved along the lower right of the oval with a single character beneath. The wording in the top ring of the oval is lightly struck and worn and could not be read with confidence in the photographs, though the form of the mark places it in the Gladding, McBean dotted-oval family A separate small printed number appears on the underside below the oval, reading approximately F 373. It is faintly struck and remains only partly legible after enhancement, so it is given as a best reading rather than a certainty Only the four bowls pictured were photographed with a visible backstamp on one example, so bidders should assume the marks may vary slightly bowl to bowl as is common in this pattern Attribution note Desert Rose was introduced in 1941 by Gladding, McBean & Co. of Los Angeles, California, and went on to become the best-selling pattern of American dinnerware ever produced, with California manufacture continuing into the mid-1980s. Replacements, Ltd. and the Gladding, McBean Franciscan archive document the sequence of marks: the earliest are dark circular stamps reading Franciscan, Made in California, U.S.A., Hand Decorated with the Gladding, McBean & Co. name, generally placed in the 1940s into the 1950s. The brown dotted oval with Franciscan in script over EARTHENWARE, as found on these bowls, follows the circular stamp. Gladding, McBean was absorbed into the Interpace Corporation in the early 1960s, so INTERPACE ring marks are later, roughly the mid-1960s through the 1970s, and usually add a two-part number with OVEN SAFE / COLOR FAST. Later Wedgwood-era marks read England or Portugal rather than U.S.A., so the MADE IN U.S.A. line confirms California manufacture. Lehner's encyclopedia of United States pottery marks is the usual reference for dating the earlier circular stamps. Small letters and numbers struck near the mark are factory or decorator notations rather than dates. The mark reading, era assignment, pattern identification, form designation, piece count, and all dimensions given here are offered as the consignor's photo-based opinion and are not guaranteed. Bid on the item as pictured. Condition Used vintage condition, sold as-is. The bowls were photographed stacked from overhead and in profile, individually from overhead into the w