Lot Essay
The 'Hob in the Well' was the title given to this design by the Chelsea factory, based on a farce written by Colley Cibber in 1715 entitled 'Flora' or 'Hob in the Well'. It illustrates an eleventh-century Chinese story in which a boy was rescued from drowning by the quick action of his friend Sze-ma Kwang (Shiba Onko), who broke the large water jar into which he had fallen