This pair of dishes seem to be the only recorded examples of this type bearing an image of the Irish peer James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde. Other portrait dishes with the same border pattern are known, including some with the image of Queen Anne which provides an indication of when this piece was produced. We are able to suggest an attribution to the Limekiln Lane, Bristol, because fragments of this distinctive ermine like border have been excavated at the site of the pottery [1].
The 2nd Duke was the grandson of the Irish statesman James Butler, 1st duke of Ormonde, he inherited the title, initially supporting James II but then deserted him after the Glorious Revolution (1688–89). He then fought in the wars of King William III. He commanded the Queen’s Troop of Horse Guards at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant General in 1694. He fought in numerous battles in Spain in the War of the Spanish Succession. Ormonde served Queen Anne as lord lieutenant of Ireland from 1703 to 1707 and from 1710 to 1713.
Following the dismissal of the Duke of Marlborough, Ormonde was appointed Captain-General on 26 February 1712. He was one of the most powerful men in the Tory administration that governed England from 1710 to 1714.
After the death of Queen Anne, he was accused of supporting the Jacobite rising of 1715, during which the rebels had shouted “High church and Ormonde”, he was impeached for high treason on 21 June 1715. He might have avoided parliamentary prosecution, if he had remained in England and stood trial but instead he chose to flee to France in August 1715. He died in exile in Avignon in 1745, but his body was returned to London and buried in Westminster Abbey
This dish is likely to have been made during the height of his power between 1710 and 1714.
Condition:
Visible glaze chips, no restoration
References:
Austin 1999
John C. Austin, British Delft at Williamsburg, Jonathan Horne Publications, 1999
Britton 1982
Frank Britton, English Delftware in the Bristol Collection, 1982
Ray 1968
Anthony Ray, English Delftware Pottery in the Robert Hall Warren Collection, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1968
Price: £6,000 each
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[1] See Austin 1999