Lot Essay
Bellarmines dated 1672 and bearing a similar motto to the present example, enclosing the initials WK, are recorded and tentatively attributed to William Killigrew, see 'John Dwight 'The Master Potter of Fulham' 1672-1703', Exhibition Catalogue, Jonathan Horne, October-December 1992
William Killigrew from a prominent and distinguished family, served in the army during the 1660's attaining the rank of Captain and in about 1667 was sent to Germany. In 1671 he received payment for his expenses incurred during the Dutch War and soon after petitioned for a stoneware patent. Circumstances suggest that he was responsible for the successive operations of the Wooltus family, probably German immigrants, who are referred to in the Dwight/Garner lawsuit (1695-96) as having made stoneware for Killigrew in the Southampton area in about 1672 and probably in the London area in about 1674, see Dennis Haselgrove, op. cit., pp. 154-156
The unusual combination of a stoneware body and lead glaze and the somewhat crude execution would suggest that the present jug is an early experimental piece. The initials R*B may perhaps be those for whom it was made rather than those of the potter himself; Dennis Haselgrove, ibid., p. 155, Note 42, tentatively suggests the initials are those of the Hon. Robert Boyle in whose laboratory John Dwight had worked at Oxford; the possibility that Killigrew may also have wished to impress Boyle should not be excluded
William Killigrew from a prominent and distinguished family, served in the army during the 1660's attaining the rank of Captain and in about 1667 was sent to Germany. In 1671 he received payment for his expenses incurred during the Dutch War and soon after petitioned for a stoneware patent. Circumstances suggest that he was responsible for the successive operations of the Wooltus family, probably German immigrants, who are referred to in the Dwight/Garner lawsuit (1695-96) as having made stoneware for Killigrew in the Southampton area in about 1672 and probably in the London area in about 1674, see Dennis Haselgrove, op. cit., pp. 154-156
The unusual combination of a stoneware body and lead glaze and the somewhat crude execution would suggest that the present jug is an early experimental piece. The initials R*B may perhaps be those for whom it was made rather than those of the potter himself; Dennis Haselgrove, ibid., p. 155, Note 42, tentatively suggests the initials are those of the Hon. Robert Boyle in whose laboratory John Dwight had worked at Oxford; the possibility that Killigrew may also have wished to impress Boyle should not be excluded