Set of Five Vintage Brock Chanticleer Rooster Plates

A charming set of five vintage bread and butter plates by Brock of California, featuring the company’s distinctive Chanticleer rooster motif. Each plate measures approximately 6.75 inches in diameter and combines a warm cream-colored ground with softly shaded brown edges and a stylized rooster at the center.

Brock of California was part of the important tradition of mid-20th-century California pottery, a period when American tableware moved toward a more informal and expressive way of living. California ceramics became closely associated with color, casual entertaining and a less rigid approach to the table, reflecting the changing character of American domestic life during the postwar decades.

The rooster, or chanticleer, holds a particularly strong place in the visual language of the kitchen. For centuries it has been associated with the beginning of the day, rural life, abundance and the rhythms of domestic routine. During the mid-20th century, the motif became especially popular in American kitchens, appearing across ceramics, textiles, advertising and household objects. On these plates, the rooster becomes both image and identity, transforming a small everyday piece of tableware into something immediately recognizable.

Bread and butter plates themselves belong to another chapter in the history of the table. Developed within increasingly specialized systems of dining, they reflect a time when individual foods were assigned their own vessels and their own place at the table. By the 20th century, these smaller plates had become familiar components of coordinated dinnerware services, bringing the rituals of formal dining into everyday domestic life.

Today, small plates such as these have acquired a new relevance for collectors. Their scale makes them particularly appealing to assemble in multiples, mixing patterns, makers and periods to create collections that are personal rather than strictly matched. A single plate may be modest; repeated across a wall, displayed in a cabinet or layered into a contemporary table setting, it becomes part of a larger visual vocabulary.

This set of five is particularly compelling because repetition strengthens the graphic quality of the Chanticleer motif. Together, the plates preserve not only an example of vintage California tableware but also a recognizable fragment of American domestic culture, when even the smallest object at the table could carry its own function, imagery and sense of place.

Details

• 1stDibs reference: LU10969251056122
• Period: Mid-20th Century
• Date: 1950
• Origin: United States
• Materials: Ceramic
• Techniques: Glazed
• Style: Mid-Century Modern
• Dimensions: H .3 × W 6.75 × D 6.75 IN
• Condition: GOOD