A nappy from the Marshall Field Tea Room

I've made just a few additions to my collection of department store tea room memorabilia this year, but one of the ones I was most thrilled to find was this Marshall Field nappy. What is a nappy? Merriam-Webster calls it "a rimless shallow open serving dish." I regularly see nappies in Depression glass, but I don't often see them in anything else. This piece was especially interesting to me because the online seller said it came from the Marshall Field Tea Room, and I have a matching demitasse cup and saucer from the same tea room.

The colors are a bit brighter on this nappy than the ones on that set, and I suppose that's because this is made of sturdier stock, diner-type thick restaurant ware and not the fine Limoges china that the demitasse cup and saucer are made of. The nappy is about 5-1/2 inches wide, the bowl part about 5 inches in diameter. Enough for a small serving of Chicken Pot Pie, perhaps?

Lamberton China, a division of Sterling, made this dish. The seller was actually quite helpful and told me he once loaned this piece for an exhibit of Marshall Field memorabilia. Wouldn't it be great if, one day, I could set a small table (for four, say) entirely with Marshall Field Tea Room teawares? But then again, at my current rate of collecting one piece per year, I probably don't need to send out the invitations just yet!