This rare and well-documented Isleworth sauceboat is moulded on both sides with small flowers and rococo cartouches containing ribbon-tied European floral bouquets, painted in underglaze blue. The interior base is also similarly painted, and the inner lip is decorated with a floral bouquet and trellis pattern. The flattened rim is painted with daisies on a ground of parallel lines. The body of the sauceboat rests on a high gadrooned oval foot. The last photograph shows the sauceboat with a matching biscuit sherd recovered from the Isleworth factory site.

Situated on the river Thames near Kew Gardens, Isleworth is one of London's 'lost' eighteenth-century porcelain manufactories. We owe much of our knowledge of the factory's output to archaeological excavations carried out on the site since the late 1990s. For many years prior to the rediscovery of the factory, Isleworth wares had been mis-identified as Derby, Bow or Lowestoft. Porcelain was produced at Isleworth for a relatively short time, and it is likely that the production of creamware and other earthenwares was the mainstay of the factory.

This sauceboat would be an important addition to any collection of early English blue and white porcelain.

Condition: Rim chips and characteristic crazing to the glaze. The thumbrest is lacking, although it had been replaced at some point after the 2003 exhibition and subsequently removed. No cracks or restoration.

Dimensions: Length 7 1/2" (19cm)

Exhibited:

Isleworth Pottery and Porcelain: recent discoveries, a joint exhibition of the English Ceramic Circle and the Museum of London Specialist Services, 5th-14th June, 2003, at the premises of Stockspring Antiques, London (no.90, illustrated on page 59 of exhibition catalogue).

English Ceramic Circle Sauceboat exhibition, 2006 (no.65).

Illustrated as plate 202 in Ceramics of Derbyshire 1750-1975, Gilbert Bradley (1978).

Provenance:

Gilbert Bradley Collection - marked with the GB monogram in green

J.C. Holdaway Collection