Footnotes

Provenance: Tew Park, Oxfordshire. In 1815, when Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to St Helena, the Prince Regent commissioned George Bullock to make some of the furniture and personal effects to be used by the former Emperor. Contemporary reports mentioned tableware '...provided by Mr Bullock, from the most eminent manufacturers in the kingdom, and consist of the fairest, though not the most extravagant specimens of our own proficiency in the various walks of mechanism and art'. The set of chamber ware, of which the present lot formed part, was designed by George Bullock as part of this commission. Before the furniture and other wares were dispatched to Napoleon, however, objections were raised about the decoration on the chamber ware. According to a note in the archives at Tew, the border design was thought to be too redolent of the victor's laurels, and thus unsuitable for a defeated Emperor. Instead, Bullock needed to find a new customer for the rejected chamber sets. When in 1817, Bullock provided furniture for Tew Park, he invoiced M.R. Boulton for several 'Chamber service complete bordered' at a cost of 3 guineas each. Matthew Robinson Boulton was the son of the industrialist Matthew Boulton of Soho. A number of pieces from these chamber sets remained at Tew Park and were included in Christie's sale of the contents 27th-29th May 1987, lots 690-697. Some of these were shown by H Blairman & Sons Ltd in their 'George Bullock: Cabinet-maker' exhibition, 1988, catalogue no. 30. The chamberware is also discussed by Alison Kelly, 'George Bullock's Ceramics', Ars Ceramica vol. 5, 1988, pp 11-13. The present lot also came from Tew Park. The vendor’s sister lived and worked on the Tew Estate as a secretary and her family paid many visits to Tew Park during the 1950s and ‘60s. The vendor held her engagement party at Tew Park and the chamber pot was a curious gift from Major Eustace Robb