RODERICK JELLICOE
This year we have a varied selection of English porcelain for Eight Days in June starting with a good offering of Worcester that includes a fine pair of Worcester figures of a Turk and his companion (1) standing in traditional dress. The base of one figure is impressed with the letters 'IT'. (Provenance: The T. Grant Dixon Collection). The early Worcester hexagonal cream jug with an angular handle (2) is crisply moulded with a geranium leaf below the lip and rococo scrollwork panels containing 'Smoky Primitive' prints of rustic buildings and a fortress. (Provenance: Jas.A Lewis & Son. New York). The Bow bell shaped mug (3) is exceptionally rare, only a handful are known decorated with this print of the King of Prussia on horseback. It is titled on the front ‘the PRUSSIAN HERO’, with military trophies on the reverse.
We have several pieces of Worcester decorated by James Giles including two pairs of plates (4-5). One pair is finely painted with flowers, the other is decorated with large spectacular ‘Fancy Birds’ with fruit and insects in the border. Also decorated with birds of a different kind, are the rare Derby guglet and coffee pot (6-7). The Chelsea tureen (8) is an exceptionally monumental piece and appears to be unrecorded in literature. It is painted with floral bouquets and a large dragon fly accompanied by other exotic insects.
The St James’s (Girl in a Swing) faceted cream boat from Charles Gouyn's factory is exceptionally rare (9); it is painted with two sprays of flowers and leaves with smaller sprays and sprigs. The main output of this factory was figures and scent bottles, teawares being especially rare. Only about sixteen surviving pieces are known, nine of which are in the Victoria & Albert Museum.
Blue ground Worcester and Gold Anchor Chelsea are making a comeback after years of neglect as collectors have tended to opt for the earlier academic pieces from these factories. Today they represent good value as they are still relatively less expensive than they were forty or fifty years ago. When these pieces were produced they where highly prized for their quality. The skill and technical expertise of the lavish decoration embellished on some of these pieces could not be matched today and the cost of such work would be prohibitive. There are a large pair of Chelsea blue ground beakers (10) with bird painting and some bell shaped cups (11) painted with putti in various pursuits (Provenance: The Peter Chance Collection). The artist responsible for decorating these cups has not yet been recognised, but they are quite exquisite. The large pair of two handled covered cups (12) are also finely decorated with Teniers type figures of children with musical instruments, courting and gardening. (Provenance: The Baroness Burton Collection and The Peter Chance Collection). The Worcester blue scale chocolate cup and saucer with two pierced handles is very rare (13), the shaped reserves with rococo gilded borders are painted with Chinese figures playing musical instruments. (Provenance: Arkwright Collection, Hampton Court, Shropshire. The Arkwright family, inventors of the Spinning Jenny). I feel provenance is an important part of collecting as it enables us to identify where an object has been and which collection it has graced. Provenance doesn’t come any better than the next piece, a Chelsea gold anchor plate (14) from the celebrated Mecklenburg-Strelitz Service which was ordered by King George III and Queen Charlotte in 1762 as a gift to her brother Duke Adolphus Frederick IV of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, at the cost of twelve hundred pounds. The service was returned to the Royal collection in 1948, although a few pieces had escaped. Shown alongside the Mecklenburg-Strelitz plate is another plate from a second service with similar shaped rim which was made at Chelsea in 1764 and advertised as ‘the last that will be made of the Pottery’.
As always we are restricted by space in the catalogue and a selection of the blue and white on offer is shown on pages 16-17. -8-
RODERICK JELLICOE
1. A rare pair of Worcester figures of a Turk and his companion c.1770 -9-
RODERICK JELLICOE
2. A Worcester hexagonal 'Smokey Primative 'creamboat c.1754
3. A Bow printed mug inscribed 'the PRUSSIAN HERO' c.1757 -10-
RODERICK JELLICOE
4. A fine pair of Worcester plates painted in the atelier of James Giles c.1768
5. A pair of Worcester plates painted in the atelier of James Giles c.1768 -11-
RODERICK JELLICOE
6-7. A Derby guglet and coffee pot c.1758-60
8. A very rare Chelsea tureen and cover c.1755 -12-
RODERICK JELLICOE
9. An extremely rare St. James's (Girl in a Swing) cream boat c.1750 -13-
RODERICK JELLICOE
10 -11. A pair of Chelsea gold anchor beakers and coffee cups c.1760-65
12. A very rare pair of Chelsea gold anchor covered two handled cups c.1760-65 -14-
RODERICK JELLICOE
13. A fine Worcester chocolate cup and saucer c.1768-70
14. A Chelsea plate from the Mecklenburg-Strelitz service accompaniied by a similar plate from the second Chelsea service c.1762-64 -15-
RODERICK JELLICOE
15. A Liverpool Christian's tankard painted with the 'Dragon’ pattern c.1765
16. A rare Derby saucer dish c.1760 -16-
RODERICK JELLICOE
17. A Longton Hall bell shaped coffee cup c.1758
18. A Worcester documentary mug inscribed Jn,Ëš Griffith c.1770-75 -17-