Anna Burnside
Head of Sale
Lot 150
An important Worcester teabowl from the Theatrical Service, circa 1775
1 December 2025, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£1,400 - £1,800
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Jim Peake
Head of Department
Fergus Gambon
Director
An important Worcester teabowl from the Theatrical Service, circa 1775
Of plain form with a gilt dentil rim, painted in colours with a portrait of Mrs Barry in the role of 'Donna Violante', seated and wearing a blue dress, a muff held on her lap, the plume in her hair picked out in gold, the reverse gilded with a floret, 7.5cm diam
Footnotes
Provenance
Phillips, 3-4 June 1998, lot 554
With Simon Spero, 2014
This service is discussed at length in an important paper by Babette Craven and Ian Lowe, 'The Worcester Theatrical Tea Service', ECC Trans, Vol.10, Pt.5, 1978, pp.272-82. Nine pieces were recorded at the time of writing, including the teapot and cover from the Marshall Collection at the Ashmolean Museum and the tea canister and cover from the Rous Lench Collection, sold by Sotheby's on 1 July 1986, lot 271. A coffee cup with a portrait of Mrs Yates from the Crane Collection was sold by Bonhams on 31 March 2010, lot 301. The present lot, sold by Phillips in 1998, was not recorded by Craven and Lowe in 1978.
The source for the images on the service is Dramatic Characters, of Different Portraits of the English Stage, published by Robert Sayer in 1770. Print no.3 depicts Mrs Barry in the role of 'Donna Violante' in the play The Wonder: A Woman Keeps a Secret!!! by Susanna Centlivre, perhaps the most successful female playwright of the 18th century. First performed in 1714, the play remained popular throughout the 18th century, being a farce full of disguises, misunderstandings and wit. The print depicts Barry with David Garrick in the role of 'Don Felix', her lover, and is taken from an original painting then in the possession of the Duchess of Northumberland. The original watercolour by Monsieur De Fesch remains at Alnwick Castle. A companion teabowl showing Garrick as 'Do Violante', taken from the same print, is illustrated by Craven and Lowe, 1978, pl.128A.