The Archive

A treasure trove of historic and contemporary patterns that are both historically and commercially significant, an invaluable design resource and a truly inspiring place to visit.

The Thomas Goode archive is a particular jewel in the business’s crown and spans the entirety of almost two centuries of luxury trade in the city. The design archive alone comprises an important resource of historic and contemporary patterns that are educationally signifi cant. The archive is also home to a fascinating collection of documents and records; not least the travel diaries of William Goode recording his grand tours through Eastern Europe and Russia in 1878, and the porcelain houses he also explored along the way. There is a ten volume collection of the monograms and crests of Europe’s great families (many of them exquisitely hand painted) that is both captivating and of great historical importance.

Among the highlights of the collection are a dinner service for Tsar Nicholas II, based on a Sèvres pattern designed for Catherine The Great, as well as a service for Empress Catherine II of Russia, a miniature-scale tea set commissioned by Queen Mary for her doll’s house; and an intriguing 1930s version of a french counter-revolutionary “puzzle plate”, in which the silhouette of Louis XVI is cunningly hidden. The museum also displays examples of the dinner service produced for the wedding of HRH Prince Charles and Princess Diana, and truly beautiful bespoke commissions for, amongst others, the fashion designer Gianni Versace.

From The Archive

The plates featured below are but a few of many stunning examples of dinner service design available to view in the Thomas Goode museum.