This unusual blue and white printed and hand-coloured octagonal dish is attributed to the Liverpool porcelain manufacturer, Seth Pennington. The central scene is of a pagoda beside a willow tree riverscape, with two figures in a boat. The shaded ground before the pagoda is hand-coloured with a blue wash. The elaborate Fitzhugh border is shaped to fit the edge of the dish, with a small indentation made at each corner. Interestingly, parts of the border design have an inky blue-black hue, and the glaze was left off a tiny section of the crossed willow branches, revealing the blue printed design on the biscuit porcelain beneath. The

A plate printed with an almost identical version of the pattern sold in the Watney sale at Phillips, London, 2000 (lot 1128).

Condition: No cracks or restoration, just a tiny nick to the rim. The print is clear and detailed.

Dimensions: Diameter 8 3/4" (22.2cm); Height 1 3/4" (4.4cm)

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

The Watney Collection, Part III, Phillips (2000).