Lot Essay
It has been suggested that the cutting of this rare pair of ewers may perhaps be attributed to Thomas Betts, the prominent London glass-cutter and merchant, see Martin Mortimer, 'Thomas Betts, the London Glass-Cutter', op. cit.(1989), pp 46 - 51. Thomas Betts died in January 1765, and the probate Inventory subsequently drawn up by six appraisers including Colebron Hancock, Glass Manufacturer of Charing Cross who had been apprenticed to Betts in 1752, includes an entry amongst the glass stored in the "Ware Room" at the Lewisham workshop for "Two large Blue Ewers unfinished". For a detailed discussion on the probate Inventory see Alexander Werner, 'Thomas Betts - an Eighteenth Century Glasscutter', The Journal of the Glass Association, Vol. 1, 1985, pp. 1-6.