This bowl is painted with a version of the Cannonball pattern under the glaze in darkish blue. It is almost certainly of Liverpool origin.

A bubble appears to have burst during firing, as a small area of unglazed biscuit can be seen on the exterior of the bowl. The bowl features several other characteristics which indicate a fairly early date for manufacture. Firstly, the glaze has a particularly greenish hue. The border commonly appears on early Liverpool wares. The interior of the bowl has rough areas of glazed clay. The glaze shows bubbling and fritting, particularly inside the footrim. It was probably made by one of the Pennington family, although this interesting bowl is certainly worthy of further research.

A similar Philip Christian bowl is illustrated in The Watney Collection, Part III (Phillips, 2000), and a tea bowl from Brownlow Hill appears in The Watney Collection, Part II (Phillips, 2000).

Condition: Good - no cracks and only one small filled chip to the rim.

Dimensions: Diameter 6 1/8" (15.6cm); Height 2 3/4" (7cm)

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