Rare Pickle Dish, Plymouth, hard paste porcelain, c.1768-70

This rare Plymouth leaf-shaped pickle dish is painted in underglaze blue with three stylised flowerheads and trailing foliage surrounding a flower spray. Typical of Plymouth blue and white wares, the blue has a characteristic greyish-black tone. The underside is moulded with veins.

Unmarked.

The first true English hard paste porcelain was produced by the chemist William Cookworthy at Plymouth between 1768-70. Experiments in porcelain manufacture had been carried out by him as early as 1765, and in March 1768 he was able to apply for a patent, for 'a kind of porcellain newly invented by me, compos'd of moorstone or growan and growan clay...'.

Cookworthy's short-lived venture in hard paste porcelain manufacture was not a success: there were many losses in the kiln, and the surviving pieces, often stained and misshapen, could not compete with fine wares from Worcester and other factories. Plymouth wares today are consequently much sought-after by collectors who value them for their quirkiness and rarity.

Condition: No cracks, but there is a shallow chip of 1.8cm to the top of the pickle dish, and several tiny losses to the serrated edge. The kiln grit and caramel-coloured discolouration to the glaze are characteristic of Plymouth porcelain.

Dimensions: Width 3 3/4" (9.5cm); Height 1" (2.5cm)

Godden's Guide to Blue and White Porcelain, Geoffrey A. Godden, Antique Collectors' Club (2004).