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Asparagus Season Starts on a Plate at Bonhams with Sale of 18th Century Ceramic Asparagus Servers

Bonhams Fine British Pottery and Porcelain Sale on April 23, includes a delightful collection of those strange and unusual objects , fan-shaped asparagus servers. The sale coincides with Britain’s Asparagus Day.

Asparagus servers are designed in a fan-like form with lips on either side to contain the spears. The fan-like shape results from the fact that the asparagus is wider at the base and narrower at the tender spear end. The form is peculiar to British ceramics and flourished for a relatively short time at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century.

The sale coincides with Asparagus Day, when the first cut of English asparagus is being brought down from Evesham in Worcestershire to the House of Commons.

Fergus Gambon, Departmental Director, British Ceramics & Glass at Bonhams comments: “It is a happy coincidence that Asparagus Day occurs on the same day as our sale. The asparagus servers are delightful objects which are no longer made which is a pity as they set off the serving and eating of this seasonal vegetable to perfection and add to the delight of all asparagus enthusiasts everywhere.”