Ranjitsinhji Plate

His Highness Shri Ranjitsinhji, Maharajah Jam Saheb of Nawanagar, is better known in the west as the first foreigner to play test cricket for England in 1896.
Ranjitsinhji came over to England to study at Cambridge University. There he developed his considerable batting skills and decided to make England his home. His cricketing prowess is now legendary. In 500 First Class innings he scored nearly 25,000 runs including 72 centuries and a highest score of 285 not out. Ranjitsinhji became ruler of his princely state in Gujarat, India in 1907.
In 1923 Ranjitsinhji ordered two bone china dessert services from Royal Worcester. The Indian Scenes service was intended to remind the Maharaja of his home in India, while being used in England. The English Scenes service, with views around his estate near Staines, was shipped out to India to serve the same purpose there.
Ranji supplied a series of photographs of the buildings and gardens that he wanted illustrated and they were carefully copied by the skilled Royal Worcester artist, Harry Davis. The two services were completed and delivered in 1925. This sample plate from the English service is on display at the Worcester Porcelain Museum.