Code: FA1329
A very rare Derby porcelain flower / plant pot and saucer dish. Tapered sides with flared rim and central drainage hole in the base. The pot is painted with fancy birds in landscapes in polychrome enamels with scattered bugs and butterflies and flocks of tiny birds in the skies. The stand is painted with butterflies. Both with red-brown enamel rims. c.1760-1765.
Reference: Derby is known to have produced these pots and stands but they would not have been produced in large quantities and understandably very few have survived and they are not well documented. See Derby Porcelain The Golden Years by D.G. Rice, pages 48-49, 60 - inventories from the period of order lists document a couple of items which could be this type of flower pot: "potting pots" and "polyanthus pots", and Appendix 4, page 206, documents pots and stands matching this example in shape and size recorded in sales at Christie's in 1982.
The pot measures 10.5cm (4 1/16") high and 12.5cm (4 15/16") wide. The stand is not perfectly circular (distorted from manufacture) and measures 12cm (4 3/4") at the widest point and 3.5cm (1 3/8") high.
In excellent condition: the pot has a tiny area of professional restoration on the bottom edge (appears just a filled chip), but no other damage, repair or restoration. Some expected minor surface scratches around the bottom inch and craze cracks in the glaze on the base inside. Minor handling wear otherwise, mainly just to the brown enamel on the rim. The stand has a fine hairline which has been stabilised. No other damage, repair or restoration and again minor handling wear, mainly to the rim. A very little discolouration inside the base as to be expected.
