This mustard pot belongs to a small group of Limehouse wares decorated by the same anonymous hand with ambitious designs of figures and landscapes based on European engravings. This hand is known on five large tureens or covered punch bowls and on a few other wares and on at least two other mustard pots.[i] Other examples of the form are known that retain their high domed covers.[ii] A sherd from a taller dry mustard pot was found during the Limehouse excavations in 1990.[iii]
Amphitrite, the wife of Poseidon, is seated in a chariot drawn by putti riding dolphins, it perhaps derives ultimately from a design by Hendrick de Keyser. The same scenes occur on a covered Limehouse tureen or punch bowl in the collection of Rosalie Wise Sharp.[iv]
The short-lived factory at Limehouse to the East of London was probably established by Joseph Wilson as he was named proprietor of the company in the land tax assessment of 15 March 1745. William Tams, the Staffordshire potter, was known to be working at Limehouse by the end of 1745. On 22/23rd September 1746 the factory advertised for pot painters, but it was not until 1 January 1747 that an advertisement appeared advising that wares were for sale at the factory close to Duke Shore. Press advertisement of 13 May 1748 indicated the failure of the factory by giving details of the sale of the remaining wares at Mr Underwood’s in Pall Mall. A creditors meeting was held on 2/3 June 1748.[v]
Although looking quite different, Ian Freestone noted the similarity between the body composition of Limehouse and ‘A’ marked porcelain made nearby in Bow according to the formula described in Edward Heylyn and Thomas Frye’s patent of 1744. The main difference being that the ‘A’ Mark porcelain used a Kaolin from South Carolina, ‘the Unaker form the Cherokee Nation’, whilst Limehouse used a secondary ball clay.[vi]
Condition:
Lid is missing
Provenance:
Bunny and Paul Davies Collection, Simon Spero exhibition, 2013, catalogue no.31
Watney Collection
Literature:
Jones 2018
Ray Jones, The Origins of Worcester Porcelain: Local Ingenuity and the Pathways from Staffordshire, Stourbridge, Bow, Limehouse & Bristol, (Parkbarn, 2018), p. 216
References:
Drakard 1993
David Drakard, (ed.), Limehouse Ware Revealed, (English Ceramic Circle, 1993)
Freestone 2000
Ian C Freestone, The Science of Early British Porcelain, (The International Ceramic Fair and Seminar Handbook 2000)
Sharp 2015
Rosalie Wise Sharp, China to Light Up a House, Volume 1, (Canada 2015)
Ramsay & Gabszewicz 2003
Ros Ramsay, Anton Gabszewicz, & E. Ramsay, ‘The chemistry of ‘A’-marked porcelain and its relation to the Heylyn and Frye patent of 1744’, Transactions English Ceramic Circle 18, 2003, pp. 264-283
Tyler et. al. 2000
Tyler, K., Stephenson, R., Owen, J. V. and Phillpotts, C. The Limehouse porcelain manufactory, excavations at 108-116 Narrow Street, London 1990:. MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology 2000).
Watney 1973
Bernard Watney, English Blue & White Porcelain of the 18th Century, (Faber and Faber, revised edition, 1973)
Price: £7,500.00
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[i] Sotheby & Co., London 17 July 1973, lot 121, decorated with ‘Putti as Liberty & Matrimony’. I am grateful to Anton Gabszewicz for pointing this out.
[ii] Drakard 1993p. 45 no. 103 and Watney 1973 pl. 43 B (as William Reid).
[iii] Tyler et. al. 2000, p.56 fig 105.
[iv] Sharp 2015, p.173, no. 591. Also illustrated Jones 2018, p.216.
[v] See Jones 2018 pp. 197 ff. for a summary of the known facts.
[vi] Freestone 2000, p. 25 & Ramsay & Gabszewicz 2003.