Period: Regency
Maker: Derby Porcelain Manufactory
The superb decoration on this Derby sauceboat from around 1810 is probably by John Brewer. The named views are of ruined Castle Caldwell in Ireland and somewhere ‘In Italy.’
The high-quality gilding, composed of perfectly balanced and proportioned palmettes, palm fronds and acanthus leaves, is almost a primer on Regency design, and identical to that shown on a circa 1810 tea and coffee trio with named views that John Twitchett attributes to John Brewer in his book Derby Porcelain 1748-1848 (see colour plate 21, page 57).
John Brewer and his younger brother Robert were master artists who worked for the Duesburys at the Derby Porcelain Manufactory.
The sauceboat was intended for the Regency dinner table, sideboard or buffet, but from its largely pristine condition probably spent most of its life inside a cabinet.
Derby and Worcester supplied fine porcelain to the British nobility and gentry, and named views cater to their passion for travel. Traditionally, this had been to view sites of Classical antiquity in the ‘Grand Tour,’ and one of the paintings on the sauceboat is a generic scene that Derby simply called ‘In Italy.’ Europe had been closed off, however, during the Napoleonic Wars, and the British had turned to exploring their own remote lands. The other painting on the sauceboat is a view of Castle Caldwell in Ireland. The castle ruins lie in what is now a forested nature reserve, on a small peninsula at one end of Loch Erne, in Northern Ireland. Nearby is the village of Belleek, where John Caldwell Bloomfield founded the Belleek Pottery in 1857.
The beautiful shape, with its swooping curves, is derived from silver originals. It is an elongated version of a Derby creamer, in the collection of Hampshire Museums, that is shown in Plate 944 of Michael Berthoud’s reference work, A Cabinet of British Creamers. Berthoud describes the creamer as ‘Bloor Derby, c1825, an oblong creamer copied from a silver shape, on four ball feet, the handle with mock rivets and insulators.’ The creamer has reserves of painted flowers instead of landscapes.
Provence: from the Coldwell Collection.
Condition Excellent overall. The protruding upper tip of the handle has been restored and re-gilded. The handle still ‘rings’ true when tapped.
Markings The standard red Derby mark used between 1806 and c.1825 of a crown, crossed batons, six dots and ‘D.’ Also painted in semi-rubbed cursive red lettering are ‘In Italy’ and ‘Ruins of the Castle of Caldwall [sic] in [indecipherable]’
Height: 13.4 cm Length 15 cm
Net weight: 250 g
Medium: Bone china (porcelain)
Origin: Derby, England