EUROPEAN SUBJECT WARES THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
A RARE BLUE AND WHITE 'EUROPEAN-SUBJECT' OCTAGONAL COFFEE-POT AND COVER

EARLY 18TH CENTURY

Details
A RARE BLUE AND WHITE 'EUROPEAN-SUBJECT' OCTAGONAL COFFEE-POT AND COVER
early 18th century
Based on a European silver original, of tapering form standing on three ball feet with loop handle and straight spout with scroll stretcher, painted around the body with figures on horseback and on foot with spears and hounds amidst trees below an ornate design enclosing medallions depicting Europa and the Bull on the upper section, the domed cover with Buddhistic lion finial, rim chip, end of spout and foot restuck, one foot restored
11½in. (29cm.) high

Lot Essay

Cf. the very similar coffee pot in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated by F. et N. Hervouët and Y. Bruneau, op.cit., p.69, no.3.14 a & b, and also by J. McClure Mudge, op.cit., p.102, pl.155; another example is in the Groninger Museum, illustrated by D. F. Lunsingh Scheurleer, op.cit., pl.128; cf. also the coffee pot formerly in the Ionides Collection, illustrated by D. Howard and J. Ayers, op.cit., vol.1, p.75, col.pl.33; and the coffee pot in the Hodroff Collection, illustrated in D.S.Howard 1994, op.cit., pl.167, p.154
The globular ball feet, resembling the triple globular feet frequently found on Scandinavian silver, suggest that this group of 'special commission' silver-shaped coffee-pots was made by order of either the Danish or Swedish East India Company. This shape was also copied in Delft faïence, see H. Havard, Histoire de la faïence de Delft, fig.52.
A similar coffee pot sold in these Rooms, 4 November 1991, lot 150

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