Fergus Gambon
Director
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Lot 73*
An important Flight, Barr and Barr Worcester centrepiece by Thomas Baxter circa 1814-16
29 September 2021, 14:00 BST
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £37,750 inc. premium
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Anna Burnside
Head of Sale
An important Flight, Barr and Barr Worcester centrepiece by Thomas Baxter circa 1814-16
Of lobed oval form with shell-moulded handles, finely painted with an arrangement of seven shells, a sea urchin and numerous corals and coloured seaweeds, within a wide gold band and a rich underglaze blue border with raised gold anthemion decoration, the handles left in the white with further raised gold neoclassical ornament, 33.4cm wide, impressed crown and FBB mark, printed mark referring to Coventry Street address
Footnotes
Provenance
Bonhams sale, 7 December 2005, lot 255
Twinight Collection
Thomas Baxter name became synonymous with shell painting on Regency Worcester porcelain, mostly through errors and misattributions by early collectors. However, examples actually painted by his masterful hand are relatively rare. Baxter's shell painting highly distinctive and individual, and always of exceptional quality. His Royal Academy training meant that he was an adept painter of portrait miniatures, and thus learnt to use the stipple technique for delicate shading. He also mastered perspective and painted his shells 'from nature'. As a result, his shell paintings stand out from the work of the other Flight factory shell painters. Baxter's shells are so real, they almost jump from his painted panels. Marine biologists can identify almost all of the specimens as they are so accurately depicted. At the same time, no shell painter could better represent the humble sea urchin.