A PAIR OF MEXICAN POLYCHROME-DECORATED AND PARCEL-GILT EARTHENWARE OVOID JARS OR BUCAROS
A PAIR OF MEXICAN POLYCHROME-DECORATED AND PARCEL-GILT EARTHENWARE OVOID JARS OR BUCAROS
A PAIR OF MEXICAN POLYCHROME-DECORATED AND PARCEL-GILT EARTHENWARE OVOID JARS OR BUCAROS
1 More
A PAIR OF MEXICAN POLYCHROME-DECORATED AND PARCEL-GILT EARTHENWARE OVOID JARS OR BUCAROS
4 More
A PAIR OF MEXICAN POLYCHROME-DECORATED AND PARCEL-GILT EARTHENWARE OVOID JARS OR BUCAROS

17TH CENTURY, POSSIBLY TONALA, ON LATE 17TH-CENTURY ENGLISH EBONISED STANDS

Details
A PAIR OF MEXICAN POLYCHROME-DECORATED AND PARCEL-GILT EARTHENWARE OVOID JARS OR BUCAROS
17TH CENTURY, POSSIBLY TONALA, ON LATE 17TH-CENTURY ENGLISH EBONISED STANDS
Each with everted rim flanked by small loop handles, one side to each decorated with three arches, the bases of the vases or jars, rounded; the wrought-iron-mounted ebonised stands each with three figural supports.
The vases: 34 ½ in. (87 cm.) high; 22.5 in. (57 cm.) wide; the stands 20 in. (51 cm.) high; 22 in. (56 cm.) diameter; 48 in. (122 cm.) high overall, and similar
Provenance
Possibly Admiral Edward Russell, 1st Earl of Orford (1653-1727), Chippenham Hall, Cambridgeshire, and by inheritance to his great niece Laetitia, Lady Sandys (née Tipping, 1699-1779).
At Ombersley Court, Worcestershire, by circa 1750, and by descent.
Literature
Ombersley Inventory, c.1750-75, where listed in 'The Great Hall', as 'two large cherry jarrs, brown & gold: on black carved frams'.

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Adrian Hume-Sayer
Adrian Hume-Sayer Director, Specialist

Lot Essay

During the 17th and 18th centuries exotic earthenware water jars or búcaros de Indias, produced in Mexico, became popular amongst European collectors both for their exotic appearance and because they were believed to give water a pleasing flavour. In Diego Velazquez' masterpiece Las Meninas (Museo del Prado, Madrid) a small 'bucaros' of water can be seen being offered to the infanta Margarita. It was also thought that the unglazed ceramic from which they were made would promote a paler complexion, indeed so much so that it became fashionable in Spain and Italy for ladies to consume fragments of of such pottery to improve their 'broken' colour.
These enigmatic monumental ovoid jars can be confidently identified as the 'two large cherry jarrs, brown & gold: on black carved frams' [sic.] listed in The Great Hall in the circa 1750 Inventory of The Contents of Ombersley Court. Although the entry for the jars has been corrected, it appears to be a contemporary correction in the same hand, rather than one of the later updates to the document, most of which date to 1775. Although the entry does not give further provenance it is likely that they may have entered the collection as part of the group of important works-of-art inherited by Laetitia, Lady Sandys (née Tipping, 1699-1779) which originally belonged to her great uncle, Admiral Edward Russell, 1st Earl of Orford (1653-1727) of Chippenham Hall, Cambridgeshire.

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