This helmet-shaped Liverpool cream jug with characteristic biting-snake handle was probably made by John Pennington in the 1780s.

The colourful enamel decoration may be familiar to collectors of New Hall as it is virtually the same as the Staffordshire factory's pattern number 3. Both sides are painted with colourful European flower sprays, and scattered sprigs are painted around the footed base. The outer rim is moulded and there is an inner border of puce circles, the centre of each dotted with blue, on a puce band. There is a small area beneath the pouring lip where the glaze did not cover, revealing the biscuit porcelain beneath. The glaze has gathered in bubbles around the lower handle terminal.

Condition: Excellent - no chips, cracks or restoration. The bright enamel decoration is clear and detailed.

Dimensions: Height (to top of handle) 3 7/8" (9.8cm)

Provenance: J.D. & Louise Trabue. Label for the London porcelain dealer Roderick Jellicoe.

Liverpool Porcelain of the Eighteenth Century, Bernard M. Watney, Richard Dennis (1997).