Anna Burnside
Head of Sale
Lot 182
A Worcester dry mustard pot and cover, circa 1753-55
1 December 2025, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£2,000 - £3,000
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Jim Peake
Head of Department
Fergus Gambon
Director
A Worcester dry mustard pot and cover, circa 1753-55
Of slender pear shape with a neatly turned footrim, the high domed cover with a pointed finial, painted in bright enamels with a chinoiserie scene, a 'Long Eliza' figure with a fan and ruyi sceptre, by an attendant holding a parasol and gesturing with an outstretched hand, a finely painted red fence to his left, the ground stippled in black on a green wash in famille verte style, the cover with a spray of famille rose plants and a ladybird, a narrow feathered border in red enamel, 11.5cm high (2)
Footnotes
Provenance
Franklin Barrett Collection
Albert Amor exhibition, 1986, no.8603
Cohen Collection, Albert Amor exhibition, 1992, no.66
R David Butti Collection, Bonhams, 10 May 2006, lot 10
Ian Morphy Collection
Literature
Jones, Ray, The Origins of Worcester Porcelain, 2018, p.527
White, Mary, Eating at the Whites' House, Vol.3, 2022, p.317, fig.b
Exhibited
Albert Amor, Treasures From Toronto II, 1996
With a colour palette well-described by Franklin Barrett as 'brilliant, yet harmonious' this style of painting relates to the contemporary decoration found on Staffordshire saltglaze and opaque white glass. At least two other Worcester dry mustard pots and covers are recorded with an identical combination of figure subject, plant spray and border. One of these in the Museum of Royal Worcester is illustrated by H Rissik Marshall, Coloured Worcester Porcelain, 1954, pl.3, no.57 and by Franklin Barrett, Worcester Porcelain, 1966, pl.7A. The other was sold by Bonhams on 2 June 2004, lot 252.
An interesting comparison can also be made with the teapot and cover sold by Bonhams on 21 May 2014, lot 80, possibly painted by the same hand as the present lot, certain elements such as the 'paw-like' hands of the figures, dotted grass and the distinctive painting of the peonies being very similar.