Pickle Dish, Lowestoft, soft paste porcelain, c.1765

This moulded leaf-shape pickle dish is painted in underglaze blue with a fruiting vine pattern. The husk or berry border is typical of that used on Lowestoft wares from this period.

The small areas of staining and glaze impurities on the base relate to the manufacture and are not untypical of Lowestoft porcelains.

The piece is unmarked, as is most Lowestoft porcelain.

Condition: Very Good - no cracks or restoration, only a minute loss to one of the tips of the serrated edge to the right of the stalk.

The manufacture of soft paste porcelain began at Lowestoft in around 1760, and lasted until c.1799. Pieces by this much sought-after factory are becoming increasingly hard to find, and this small pickle dish would enhance any collection of early English porcelain.

Dimensions: 3 3/4" (9.5cm) across

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