Yanco Iris Blue Collection

Iris Blue is a 30-piece blue chinaware pattern, and despite the name it is not a variant of Yanco's other blue line. Its item numbers, its shapes and its size ladder are its own: coupe round plates, rimmed dinner plates, coupe oval plates, deep oval plates, a fish plate and a shallow-bowl series that runs to 60 oz. The only piece it shares with any other Yanco pattern is the 12 oz mug. What it is built for is plated service in a room that wants color on the table without a dark glaze — a full plate and bowl program in blue, with no cup, no saucer and no platter.

What's in the Iris Blue line

• Coupe round plates — 6.25", 7.25", 10.25" and 11.25".
• Rimmed plates — bread at 6.125" and 7.125"; dinner at 9.25", 10.25" and 11.25".
• Coupe oval plates — 12.875" x 7", 13.625" x 7.875" and 15.5" x 9".
• Deep oval plates — 11.75" x 7" and 13.75" x 8.25".
• Deep bowls — 6.375" at 18 oz, 8.375" at 30 oz, 9.25" at 45 oz, 10.25" at 60 oz.
• Shallow and specialty bowls — 7.25" at 25 oz, 8.5" at 35 oz, cereal at 22 oz, rice at 10 oz, pasta at 25 oz, two rectangular bowls at 4 and 8 oz, sauce dish at 3 oz.
• Plates with a well — soup plate 10 oz, soup/pasta plate 20 oz, fish deep plate 9.125" x 4.875".

Four ways to serve something wet

The distinctive thing about this pattern is how many different answers it gives to the same problem. A soup can go in the rimmed Yanco IB-408 Soup Plate (10 oz, 8.625"), the deeper Yanco IB-410 Soup/Pasta Plate (20 oz, 10.25"), the wide-mouthed Yanco IB-507 Shallow Bowl (25 oz) or the true bowl shapes at 30 to 60 oz. Four vessels, four rim heights, one glaze — which is a lot of control over how a course reads for a line of only 30 items.

The deep bowl ladder itself is tightly spaced: IB-306 (18 oz, 6.375"), IB-308 (30 oz, 8.375"), IB-309 (45 oz, 9.25") and IB-310 (60 oz, 10.25"). An inch of diameter buys 15 oz between the 9.25" and 10.25" sizes, so portion control on this line is best done by item number rather than by eye. Alongside them sit the IB-508 Shallow Bowl (35 oz), the IB-506 Cereal Bowl (22 oz), the IB-504 Rice Bowl (10 oz) and the IB-411 Pasta Bowl (25 oz, 11.125").

Plates in three outlines

Coupe rounds run IB-706 (6.25"), IB-707 (7.25"), IB-710 (10.25") and IB-711 (11.25"). The rimmed set covers the same ground differently: IB-106 Bread Plate (6.125"), IB-107 Bread Plate (7.125"), IB-109 (9.25"), IB-110 (10.25") and IB-111 (11.25"). At 10.25" and 11.25" both families overlap exactly, so the same course can be run flat or rimmed on matching diameters.

The ovals split the same way. The flat IB-213 (12.875" x 7"), IB-214 (13.625" x 7.875") and IB-215 (15.5" x 9") are presentation surfaces; the IB-311 (11.75" x 7") and IB-313 (13.75" x 8.25") have close to two inches of depth and will hold a sauce. The IB-409 Fish Deep Plate (9.125" x 4.875") is the one piece shaped for a specific dish.

Small pieces

Three small vessels finish the line: the IB-405 Rectangular Bowl (4 oz, 5" x 3.5"), the IB-406 Rectangular Bowl (8 oz, 6" x 4.375") and the round IB-303 Sauce Dish (3 oz). Beverage service is a single item, the IB-012 Mug (12 oz), so a coffee program on this pattern will need cups from elsewhere.

Iris Blue is one of two blue patterns in the full Yanco range, and the two are not interchangeable. The Blue Star collection is a heavier color-glazed ceramic on a different body, built around rectangular plates, leaf plates and handled bake dishes — worth comparing if you want a bolder blue and oven-to-table pieces. If the gap that matters to you is the missing cup and saucer, the twenty-two-piece Lyon Blue collection is a complete blue service that includes both. To check sizes against china you already run, contact sales@nishienterprise.com or (732) 790-0199.