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CHARGERS AND ITALIAN-INSPIRED WARES Among the earliest pieces in this collection are those inspired by Italian maiolica, both the oviform jug with grotesques and scrolling foliage in the Italian maiolica style, and the extraordinary 'Sacrifice of Isaac' dish that appears to be loosely based on Italian istoriato painting of the early 16th Century. The boldly painted Adam and Eve chargers (lots 164 and 166) are typically English in their subject matter and interpretation. The successful adoption of chinoiserie design at Christian Wilhelm's factory at Southwark, Pickelherring Quay, illustrates the marriage of Dutch 'birds-on-rocks' painting ultimately derived from a Chinese original by way of Holland. Closest in style to the Dutch 'maiolica' is the polychrome dated dish in 1648, which although with strong Dutch influence this has a nuance of style that this peculiarly English. Of the long series of blue-dash chargers, some have Dutch prototypes, most notably the two tulip chargers and chargers with oak apples and pomegranates among the decoration.

A SOUTHWARK DELFT POLYCHROME CHARGER

CIRCA 1630, MONTAGUE CLOSE OR PICKLEHERRING QUAY

Details

A SOUTHWARK DELFT POLYCHROME CHARGER
CIRCA 1630, MONTAGUE CLOSE OR PICKLEHERRING QUAY
The centre with a warrior in armour in a plumed helmet and holding a spear flanked by grasses and a fence within a yellow and blue circular cartouche, the blue border of 'birds-on-rocks' design among flowering shrubs within a yellow and manganese line rim, the underside with tin-glaze and the footrim pierced for hanging, a divided crack at 11 o'clock stretching into the border, six small cracks to rim, rim chip at 12 and 7 o'clock and other smaller rim chips
13 5/8 in. (34.5 cm.) diameter

Provenance

Acquired from Jonathan Horne, 12 May 1999.

Literature

Jonathan Horne, A Collection of Early English Pottery, Part XX, London, 2000, no. 581.

Exhibited

Jonathan Horne, March 2000, Exhibition Catalogue, no. 581.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The central depiction of a warrior is based on an engraving by Virgil Solis of Hector of Troy from a series of the Nine Worthies (F. W. Hollstein, German Engravings, Etchings and Woodcuts, 1400 - 1700 Vol. LXIV, Virgil Solis, Part II, Rotterdam/The Netherlands, 2004, illustrated below).

The typical 'birds-on-rocks' design is recorded on a number of dated examples ranging from 1628 to 1635. Horne suggests that the central panel may be by the same hand as the dish in the Victoria and Albert Museum illustrated by Michael Archer, Delftware the Tin-glazed Earthenware of the British Isles, a Catalogue of the Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1997, pp. 99-100, no. A.50, pl. 31, where the more elaborate border has a combination of 'birds-on-rocks' panels and grotesques in the Italian manner. Lot 162 should also be considered in this context.

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