Ivy leaf Pickle Dish, Worcester, soft paste porcelain, c.1758

This is a wonderful and early pickle dish or tray, painted in underglaze blue with the Two Peony Rock Bird pattern. The pattern only appears on pickle dishes, more usually those of the shell-shaped variety rather than a leaf shape of this type. The pattern was used at Worcester between 1754-1760.

The underside is crisply moulded with veins, and there is a painted workman's mark to the base.

The pointed outline of this dish has its origins in Limehouse and Lund's Bristol, and the shape probably corresponds with the 'Fig leaves' of the London warehouse list of 1755-56, although nowadays collectors refer to the shape as 'ivy leaf'.

Condition: Perfect.

Dimensions: Length 4 1/4" (10.8cm); Width 3 1/8" (7.9cm); Height 1" (2.5cm)

I.C.10, Worcester Blue and White Porcelain 1751-1790 (Barrie & Jenkins, 1989).

Worcester Porcelain 1751-1790: The Zorensky Collection, Simon Spero & John Sandon (Antique Collectors' Club, 1996).