Anna Burnside
Head of Sale
Lot 102
A rare Chelsea strawberry leaf sauceboat, circa 1752-53
1 December 2025, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£1,200 - £1,800
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Jim Peake
Head of Department
Fergus Gambon
Director
A rare Chelsea strawberry leaf sauceboat, circa 1752-53
Of deep leaf shape, the angular branch handle entwined with strawberry flowers and fruit, the underside similarly moulded with strawberry plants, the interior unusually painted in Kakiemon style with the 'Two Quail' pattern, two plump birds amongst finely detailed plants and flying insects, the exterior with scattered floral sprigs and insects also in the Japanese manner, with a restrained use of gold to highlight the design, 16.8cm long
Footnotes
Provenance
Faith and Dewayne Perry Collection, Simon Spero exhibition, 2008, no.10
Literature
White, Mary, Eating at the Whites' House, Vol.3, 2022, p.418, fig.c
Chelsea produced this appealing shape in two sizes for a short period between about 1752-56. These forms are almost always decorated with flowers in naturalistic European style. The present example represents an unusual juxtaposition of the Kakiemon style hailing from Japan with hints of the European palette in the puce veins on the strawberry plants to the exterior. This sauceboat is also on the cusp on the raised anchor and early red anchor periods. It therefore exhibits the beautifully white body and silky glaze of this point in time with no glassy pooling of the glaze, which was to trouble later red anchor forms.
Mary White discusses the 'Two Quail' pattern and compares the versions of this design on Arita, Meissen, Chantilly, Chelsea and Bow, see Beasts at the Whites' House, Vol.1, 2020, pp.182-3. For a Meissen cup and saucer in this pattern, see lots 95 in this sale.