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Lot Essay
The CR monogram almost certainly refers to King Charles I rather than his son who was restored to the throne in 1660; other wine-bottles of this form bear dates in the 1640s and early 1650s. See Geoffrey Eliot Howard, Early English Drug Jars: with some notes on Jacobean Wine Pots, Cups, etc., The Medici Society, London, 1931, where the author suggests that bottles bearing a crown could have been made for use in the royal household. However, it seems more likely that the inclusion of a crown, with or without royal initials, probably served to indicate support for the monarchy by its owner. Such vessels were made as reusable serving-bottles and are sometimes inscribed with the name of their contents, the coat of arms or initials of their owner and a date. Michael Archer notes that 'wine was a popular New Years present and that the date on the bottle most likely records the year of gift rather than the date of the vintage', see Delftware in the Fitzwilliam Museum, London, 2013, p. 219.
Only one other bottle with a powdered manganese ground and a royal cipher is known - the example with the crowned monogram HMR of Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, which was sold by Bonhams in London on 5 December 2007, lot 88, exhibited by Sampson & Horne and illustrated by Jonathan Horne, English Pottery and related works of art, London, 2008, p. 6, no. 08/04. Wine-bottles with crowns, some of them with the initials CR have dates ranging from 1642 to 1676 and the lettering on those is similar to that on most wine-bottles, however the more elaborate script seen on the present lot is seen on only a very small number of bottles. These include a dated bottle with CR beneath a crown, inscribed Wh:WINE/1644, illustrated by Leslie B. Grigsby, The Longridge Collection of English Slipware and Delftware, Vol. II, London, 2000, p. 248, no. D222. It was subsequently sold in these Rooms, 'Syd Levethan: The Longridge Collection' on 25 May 2011, lot 173. Another example with the same monogram is illustrated by Louis Lipski and Michael Archer, Dated English Delftware, London, 1984, p. 327, no. 1391 (dated 1649) and a 1648 example in the Fitzwilliam Museum is illustrated by Michael Archer, ibid., London, 2013, p. 222, E.5. Both examples bear a crown painted in a very similar hand to that on the present lot. The powdered manganese ground is in itself rarely seen on wine-bottles; for a wine-bottle in the Museum of London with an all-over powdered manganese ground and a blue edge to the rim and foot, see Frank Britton, London Delftware, London, 1987, p. 121, fig. 68 and the example with a coat-of-arms in blue on a powdered manganese ground which was in the Rous Lench collection and sold in these Rooms on 29 May 1990, lot 28.
Only one other bottle with a powdered manganese ground and a royal cipher is known - the example with the crowned monogram HMR of Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, which was sold by Bonhams in London on 5 December 2007, lot 88, exhibited by Sampson & Horne and illustrated by Jonathan Horne, English Pottery and related works of art, London, 2008, p. 6, no. 08/04. Wine-bottles with crowns, some of them with the initials CR have dates ranging from 1642 to 1676 and the lettering on those is similar to that on most wine-bottles, however the more elaborate script seen on the present lot is seen on only a very small number of bottles. These include a dated bottle with CR beneath a crown, inscribed Wh:WINE/1644, illustrated by Leslie B. Grigsby, The Longridge Collection of English Slipware and Delftware, Vol. II, London, 2000, p. 248, no. D222. It was subsequently sold in these Rooms, 'Syd Levethan: The Longridge Collection' on 25 May 2011, lot 173. Another example with the same monogram is illustrated by Louis Lipski and Michael Archer, Dated English Delftware, London, 1984, p. 327, no. 1391 (dated 1649) and a 1648 example in the Fitzwilliam Museum is illustrated by Michael Archer, ibid., London, 2013, p. 222, E.5. Both examples bear a crown painted in a very similar hand to that on the present lot. The powdered manganese ground is in itself rarely seen on wine-bottles; for a wine-bottle in the Museum of London with an all-over powdered manganese ground and a blue edge to the rim and foot, see Frank Britton, London Delftware, London, 1987, p. 121, fig. 68 and the example with a coat-of-arms in blue on a powdered manganese ground which was in the Rous Lench collection and sold in these Rooms on 29 May 1990, lot 28.