Fergus Gambon
Director
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Lot 124
A fine and early Worcester beaker vase, circa 1754
15 December 2020, 10:30 GMT
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £12,112.50 inc. premium
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A fine and early Worcester beaker vase, circa 1754
Of 'Scratch Cross' type and of waisted, cylindrical form, finely painted with the 'Bird and Snail' pattern, the bird perched on one of two gnarled branches which stand by a small, red fence, looking down towards an unfortunate snail on the grass below, the reverse with a smaller vignette of flowering bamboo sprouting from rocks and an insect in flight, 14.8cm high
Footnotes
Provenance
A J Smith Collection
Gordon and Sue Guy-Jones Collection
Simon Spero exhibition 2012, no.8
Ralph Kenber Collection
There would appear to be four recorded examples of this exceptional vase. One from the Rous Lench Collection, later in the Sir Jeremy Lever and Crane Collections was sold by Bonhams, 7 March 2007, lot 21 and 31 March 2010, lot 60, respectively. The present lot being almost identical with the addition of a flying insect painted on the reverse. Two smaller examples are in the Ashmolean Museum, one illustrated by H Rissik Marshall, Coloured Worcester Porcelain (1954), pl.25, no.563. A matching water bottle and basin also from Rous Lench was gifted to the Museum of Royal Worcester. Three bell-shaped mugs with the same decoration are recorded, each inscribed on the base 'ExL 1754'. One of these from the Grant Dixon Collection was at Ampleforth Abbey. The second is in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the third is at Colonial Williamsburg. These mugs were instrumental in dating of early 'Scratch Cross' class and by association it is possible to confidently place the current lot around 1754.
Although not painted with this pattern, a closely related vase, clearly painted by the same hand from the R David Butti Collection was sold by Bonhams, 10 May 2006, lot 33. In each case, the painting is very finely executed, with great care given to the detailing and composition.