The Rous Lench Worcester 'Bird and Snail' vase, circa 1754

Footnotes

Provenance
Rous Lench Collection, Christie's, 30 May 1990, lot 454
Sir Jeremy Lever Collection, Bonhams, 7 March 2007, lot 21
Crane Collection, Bonhams, 31 March 2010, lot 60
Simon Spero exhibition, 2010, no.18

Literature
White, Mary, Living at the Whites' House, Vol.4, 2023, p.358

There would appear to be four recorded examples of this exceptional vase, including the present lot. An almost identical example, with the addition of a flying insect painted on the reverse, was sold by Bonhams as part of the Ralph Kenber Collection on 15 December 2020, lot 124. Two smaller examples are in the Ashmolean Museum, one of which is illustrated by H Rissik Marshall, Coloured Worcester Porcelain, 1954, pl.25, no.563. A matching water bottle and basin from Rous Lench was gifted by Tom Burn to the Museum of Royal Worcester and is illustrated by Franklin A Barrett, Worcester Porcelain and Lund's Bristol, 1966, pl.27A. Three bell-shaped mugs with the same decoration are recorded, each inscribed on the base 'E*L 1754', see John Sandon, The Dictionary of Worcester Porcelain, 1993, pp.68-9. One of these from the Grant Dixon Collection was at Ampleforth Abbey, the second is in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the third is at Colonial Williamsburg. A fourth such mug has since been discovered and was sold at Byrne's in Chester on 28 September 2022, lot 47. These mugs were instrumental in the dating of the so-called 'Scratch Cross' class and by association it is possible to confidently place the present lot around 1754. Interestingly, a waisted vase of similar form appears on the trade card of Worcester's London warehouse, which was printed circa 1754-55.

Although not painted with this pattern, a closely related vase clearly painted by the same hand was in the R David Butti Collection, sold by Bonhams on 10 May 2006, lot 33. In each case, the painting is very finely executed, with great care given to the detailing and composition.