Saucer, Bairnsfather Ware, 1919 (c)

Earthenware saucer, no maker's mark; from a tea service made up from different items of Bairnsfather Ware, ceramics featuring Captain Bruce Bairnsfather's artwork.

White earthenware saucer with overglaze, sepia transfer-printed decoration. In the centre, a mouse with a corned beef tin, a bucket perforated with bullet holes and three tufts of grass.

Printed around the rim are illustrations of the detritus of a Western Front battlefield: a bucket perforated with bullet holes, German pickelhaube helmet, forage cap, steel helmets, mess tin, water bottles, plum jam tins, mice with a corned beef tins, interspersed with eleven tufts of grass.

Charles Bruce Bairnsfather (1888-1959) served with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment on the Western Front during World War One (1914-1918). Before the war he had attempted to make his living as a commercial artist and he continued to sketch while at the Front.

The horror of trench warfare had a profound effect on the young infantry officer but it was the stoic good humour of his men that inspired most of the cartoons he produced. Encouraged by his work's popularity with officers and men alike, Bairnsfather submitted a cartoon entitled, 'Where Did That One Go To?', to the 'The Bystander' magazine and it was accepted and published. Compilations of his cartoons, notably the 'Fragments from France' series, followed. Bairnsfather's artwork was reproduced widely in various forms and became the subject of successful theatrical and film productions.

Invalided home, Bairnsfather became quite a celebrity but the British authorities seemed disinclined to promote the artist or his work. Bairnsfather was however in demand from Britain's allies and he went on to work with the French, Italian and United States armies.