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Lot Essay
This unusual depiction of Charles II standing before boldly coloured fencing differs from the more often seen images of the king standing within an arched interior. Several dated blue-dash chargers showing Charles II within an arched interior are recorded, including an example dated 1668 in the British Museum, see Aileen Dawson, English and Irish Delftware 1570-1840, London, 2010, pp. 40-41, cat. no. 7. The author attributes this dish to the Pickleherring Quay pottery and suggests that a portrait of Charles II by Gerrit van Honthorst depicting the King standing in armour and holding a baton may be a possible source.1 A London delftware flask dated 1668 also in the collection of the British Museum is decorated with a similar portrait of Charles II and is perhaps by the same hand as the present lot, see Aileen Dawson, ibid., London, 2010, pp. 38-39, cat. no. 6.
Cecil Baring (1864-1934) became the third Lord Revelstoke upon the sudden death of his older brother in April 1929. Descended from a distinguished family of bankers Baring began collecting British pottery in 1912 and in the following twenty-two years assembled an enviable collection of English pottery including delftware, saltglaze stoneware, slipware and Pratt ware, which by the late 1920s numbered around a thousand pieces. He was advised by, bought from and traded with Louis Gautier (1867-1943), one of the leading pottery dealers and experts of the early 20th century. Baring had a close association with the architect Sir Edward Lutyens, who designed his Arts and Crafts inspired home in Lambay, Co. Dublin in Ireland. Together Baring and Lutyens worked on designs for a museum which was to be built on a two acre site on the Thames in Chelsea, beside Cheyne Walk and Oakley Street. The museum was to house Baring's extensive pottery collection. Despite several years of planning and the creation of two designs for the building, plans were abandoned in 1931. Following Cecil Baring's death in 1934 a large part of the pottery collection was sold by his son Rupert, 4th Lord Revelstoke, at Puttick and Simpson of London, between 20 and 23 of November 1934 and in sales at the same rooms in subsequent years. Louis Gautier, who knew the collection so well, bought around 104 of the 861 lots offered in the sale. The collection is now widely dispersed with pieces in several major museums around the world.
1. For this dish and another of William III standing within a similar arched interior and for a discussion of the possible print source see James Lomax, 'Baroque Forms and Decoration on English Pottery 1640-1760', English Ceramic Circle Transactions, 2013, p. 187, nos. 41 & 42.
Cecil Baring (1864-1934) became the third Lord Revelstoke upon the sudden death of his older brother in April 1929. Descended from a distinguished family of bankers Baring began collecting British pottery in 1912 and in the following twenty-two years assembled an enviable collection of English pottery including delftware, saltglaze stoneware, slipware and Pratt ware, which by the late 1920s numbered around a thousand pieces. He was advised by, bought from and traded with Louis Gautier (1867-1943), one of the leading pottery dealers and experts of the early 20th century. Baring had a close association with the architect Sir Edward Lutyens, who designed his Arts and Crafts inspired home in Lambay, Co. Dublin in Ireland. Together Baring and Lutyens worked on designs for a museum which was to be built on a two acre site on the Thames in Chelsea, beside Cheyne Walk and Oakley Street. The museum was to house Baring's extensive pottery collection. Despite several years of planning and the creation of two designs for the building, plans were abandoned in 1931. Following Cecil Baring's death in 1934 a large part of the pottery collection was sold by his son Rupert, 4th Lord Revelstoke, at Puttick and Simpson of London, between 20 and 23 of November 1934 and in sales at the same rooms in subsequent years. Louis Gautier, who knew the collection so well, bought around 104 of the 861 lots offered in the sale. The collection is now widely dispersed with pieces in several major museums around the world.
1. For this dish and another of William III standing within a similar arched interior and for a discussion of the possible print source see James Lomax, 'Baroque Forms and Decoration on English Pottery 1640-1760', English Ceramic Circle Transactions, 2013, p. 187, nos. 41 & 42.