A dining service, more often called a dinner service, is a large matching set of tableware for serving a formal meal. A full service typically includes dinner plates, soup plates, side plates, oval meat platters in graduated sizes, vegetable dishes with covers, sauce tureens, a soup tureen and sometimes a well-and-tree platter for carving.
Large dinner services became common in Britain during the eighteenth century, initially in Chinese export porcelain, often painted with the owner's coat of arms, and then in English creamware, pearlware, porcelain and later ironstone and bone china. Wedgwood, Spode, Mason's, Minton, Coalport, Davenport and Copeland were among the leading makers, and transfer-printed blue and white patterns such as Willow and botanical or topographical designs were produced in enormous quantities. The size and quality of a service reflected the wealth of the household, and country house services could run to hundreds of pieces. Collectors value completeness, crisp printing or painting, good gilding and pieces free from cracks, chips and knife scratches. Partial services are often supplemented with matching pieces, and many antique services remain perfectly usable for occasional dining.
