Anna Burnside
Head of Sale
Lot 82
A Godstone 'Iron Pear Tree' saltglaze stoneware gout water bottle, circa 1752
19 November 2025, 10:30 GMT
London, Knightsbridge£1,200 - £1,800
Ask about this lot
Fergus Gambon
Director
Jim Peake
Head of Department
A Godstone 'Iron Pear Tree' saltglaze stoneware gout water bottle, circa 1752
Of generous ovoid shape with a grooved strap handle, applied to the shoulder with two medallions, one moulded in relief with a man on crutches and inscribed 'Oh the Gout', the other with the same man standing without support and inscribed 'Drink and be well', incised 'Iron Peartree Water/ near Godstone Surry [sic]' below, 38.8cm high
Footnotes
Provenance
Jonathan Horne Collection
Literature
Jonathan Horne, A catalogue of English Brown Stoneware from the 17th and 18th Centuries (1985) p.19, no.36
To avoid having to fetch water from far afield to make his ale, Mr Bonwick sank a new well near a pear tree in the garden of the Surrey inn of which he was the proprietor. The tree habitually grew inedible fruit, giving it the name the 'Iron Pear Tree'. The ale he brewed using this water miraculously cured him of the gout from which he was troubled, and it was subsequently sold in London for 2 shillings per gallon with a deposit of 2 shillings on the bottle as a cure for the ailment. A very similar flagon in the Henry Willett Collection is illustrated by Stella Beddoe, A Potted History (2015), p.282, no.1393, where the author notes how the dozen or so of these bottles known indicates that sales were obviously brisk, but it is unclear for how long. A very similar flagon was sold by Bonhams on 2 June 2004, lot 116 and another, slightly smaller, on 10 December 2003, lot 56.