Anna Burnside
Head of Sale
Anton Gabszewicz Collection
Lot 131
A rare and impressive Bow tureen and cover, circa 1752-54
19 November 2025, 10:30 GMT
London, Knightsbridge£2,000 - £3,000
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Fergus Gambon
Director
Jim Peake
Head of Department
A rare and impressive Bow tureen and cover, circa 1752-54
Of elaborate facetted form with gadrooned ribs, the rococo handles echoing the four substantial scrolled feet, painted in bright blue with alternating panels of Chinese landscapes, flowering plants and diaper, painted in blue with panels of Chinese landscapes and flowers, 39.5cm wide across the handles (2)
Footnotes
Provenance
John Ainslie Collection, Sotheby's, 7 March 1961, lot 54, collection no.553
John Hewitt Collection
Watney Collection
Anton Gabszewicz Collection
Literature
'A Miscellany of Pieces', ECC Trans, Vol.4, Pt.4 (1959), p.1, item.4, pl.2A
Bernard Watney, English Blue and White Porcelain of the 18th Century (1973), pl.7A
A note written by Mavis Watney and placed inside the tureen reads 'John Hewitt gave this tureen to Bernard in thanks for his work on porcelains (English 18th century)'
Anton Gabszewicz notes the interesting interpretation of baroque, often diluted with elements of rococo, on English 18th century porcelain in his chapter publishing in Fire and Form - The Baroque and its influence on British Ceramics 1660-1760 (2013), pp.209-224. In form, the Bow tureen may take influence directly from a silver prototype of about 1730 but more likely comes via a Continental porcelain or even faience conduit.
The bright tone of blue and thick 'lard-like' glaze indicates a date in the early 1750s.