Period: Regency
Maker: James & Ralph Clews
A delightful Regency porcelain slop bowl by James and Ralph Clews, hand-painted with a rustic figure and with an elaborately decorated border. The plate is unmarked except for the 841 pattern number painted on the base.
James and Ralph Clews were active for less than two decades, from about 1815 to 1834, at a pottery in Cobridge, a village in what is now Stoke-on-Trent. Their porcelain production was even shorter, from about 1821 to 1825.
The Clews brothers specialized in blue transfer-printed earthenware, and served mainly the American and Russian markets, styling themselves ‘Potters to her Imperial Majesty, the Empress of all the Russians.’ Popular subjects were Zoological Gardens, American Views and their ‘Doctor Syntax’ series.
Clews porcelains are much less well known, probably because they were unmarked. Many are in their 841 pattern, versions of which appears on 19thCentury porcelains of many other British firms. Its basic elements, according to Michael Berthoud, are “a deeply scalloped blue border containing roughly rectangular yellow panels containing a gilt flower or anthemion.” There is also a ‘melting’ inner edge to the border.
The 841 pattern (and its imitators) tends to have painted scenes in the centre. These may be rustic figures, scenes from Dr. Syntax or Don Quixote, or occasionally with some other factories, sprays of enamelled flowers instead of figures.
The figure painted inside the slop bowl is dressed in a wide-brimmed hat, green jacket and knee breeches and is carrying a basket. Behind him is a thatched farmhouse.
Condition Good. There is a star-shaped hairline on the bottom of the bowl (see photograph) that does not extend through the porcelain. Minor patches of enamel loss to the painting and some minor surface scratching. Almost all of the gilding is intact with just some very minor rubbing near the rim.
Diameter: 18 cm (7.1 inches) Height: 8.8 cm (3.5 inches) Weight: 573g
Medium: Bone china (porcelain)
Origin: Stoke-on-Trent, England
