Anna Burnside
Head of Sale
Lot 178
A rare and early Worcester mug or tankard, circa 1752-53
1 December 2025, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£1,500 - £2,500
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Jim Peake
Head of Department
Fergus Gambon
Director
A rare and early Worcester mug or tankard, circa 1752-53
Of elegant baluster shape with a neatly turned foot, the S-shape handle with thumbrest, enamelled in bright famille rose style with two birds, one perched upon an elaborate towering rockwork, issuing oriental flowers, a flowerhead and diaper panelled border below the rim, 11.5cm high
Footnotes
Provenance
Simon Spero exhibition, 2010, no.17
Literature
Jones, Ray, The Origins of Worcester Porcelain, 2018, p.519
White, Mary, Drinking at the Whites' House, Vol.2, 2021, p.129, fig.b
An almost identical mug was included in Albert Amor's exhibition, Worcester Porcelain: The First Decade, 1981, no.21, where the black and white photography necessitates a catalogue note about the 'markedly cream' colour of the porcelain. Mary White illustrates the present lot in Drinking at the Whites' House, in helpful technicolour, beside another to demonstrate the contrast between Worcester's varying porcelain bodies in the short but formative period of 1752-53. The second mug is a whitish grey compared to the creamy and warm paste of the present lot and it is interesting to see side-by-side these differing products from the experimental first years of the factory.
The decoration is a pattern adapted from Chinese famille rose but the palette most likely takes its influence from Staffordshire saltglaze, brought to life on this new, silky porcelain canvas. A version of the design in a slightly duller palette can be seen on the saucer dish and coffee pot from the Zorensky Collection illustrated by John Sandon and Simon Spero, Worcester Porcelain, 1996, nos.4 and 5.