Anna Burnside
Head of Sale
Lot 94
An exceptionally rare English delftware model of a leveret, mid-18th century
19 November 2025, 10:30 GMT
London, Knightsbridge£5,000 - £8,000
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Fergus Gambon
Director
Jim Peake
Head of Department
An exceptionally rare English delftware model of a leveret, mid-18th century
The young hare modelled crouching on a low mound base washed in dark blue, its eyes and whiskered nose carefully delineated in blue and manganese, the fur also picked out on its ears, body and haunches, 7.5cm long, 5.8cm high
Footnotes
No similar model of a hare or rabbit would appear to be recorded in the literature. Comparisons can be made with several models of cats of similar scale, traditionally dated between the early and mid-18th century. One such example was sold by Bonhams on 23 June 2021, lot 63 and another is illustrated by Leslie Grigsby, The Longridge Collection (2000), p.388, no.D352. Like the present lot these cats are relatively thinly potted, a thin tin-glaze coating the hollow, press-moulded interior.
The present lot provides an important link between English delftware and the various related models of recumbent hares already known in earthenware, stoneware and porcelain bodies of the 1750s. See the agate saltglaze stoneware hare sold by Bonhams on 29 September 2020, lot 110. A white saltglaze hare from the Rous Lench Collection was sold by Sotheby's, 1 July 1986, lot 126. Porcelain tureens or boxes modelled as recumbent hares or leverets were produced at Chelsea and by Richards Chaffers' factory in Liverpool reflecting the popularity of these forms in the mid-18th century.