This is a very rare deep plate made by Worcester around 1780. The plate has a basket weave rim and a very charming image of an Aesop fable about three foxes conversing under a large tree, one of them clearly having a flee problem. The image is painted in the style of Jefferyes Hamett O'Neale, who specialised in Aesop fable paintings. I have not been able to find the exact fable behind this image, but it is known that this plate belonged to a large service with many different Aesop fables.
I have one more plate of this service, with a fable of the horse and the donkey - please see separate listing.
It might be thought that this image was painted by Jefferyes Hamett O'Neale himself, but when looking closer you can see that the quality is not quite the same. However, it is clearly painted in his tradition and possibly by a student.
The Worcester Porcelain Company was one of the first potteries in Britain to produce porcelain. Alongside other great potteries such as Derby, Chelsea and Bow, they pioneered a new industry that would grow out to be huge in the following century. This plate is from the first period, which is often called the "Dr Wall" period after its founder. In later years Worcester went through many different ownerships and styles, and ultimately it became the Royal Worcester factory that only finished operation in the early 21st Century.
This beautiful plate has been potted in Worcester's famous early porcelain, which is rather warm to the touch as it contained a quantity of soap rock, and has a slightly green hue at the bottom. The underside also has characteristic concentric circles on the surface. The rim has a beautiful blind moulded "basket weave" pattern.
The plate is unmarked as was common at the time, but the style and porcelain body clearly indicate that it came from the Worcester factory.
Documentation: Several items of this service are shown in "Worcester Porcelain 1751 - 1790 The Zorensky Collection" by Simon Spero and Henry Sandon.
Provenance: Sir Jeremy Lever Collection, sold by Bonhams (Lot 89, 7 July 2007)
CONDITION REPORT The plate is excellent antique condition without damage, repairs or crazing, but it has minor wear as visible in the pictures.
Antique British porcelain is never perfect. Kilns were fired on coal, and this meant that china from that period can have some firing specks from flying particles. British makers were also known for their experimentation, and sometimes this resulted in technically imperfect results. Due to the shrinkage in the kiln, items can have small firing lines or develop crazing over time, which should not be seen as damage but as an imperfection of the maker's recipes, probably unknown at the time of making. Items have often been used for many years and can have normal signs of wear, and gilt can have signs of slight disintegration even if never handled. I will reflect any damage, repairs, obvious stress marks, crazing or heavy wear in the item description but some minor scratches, nicks, stains and gilt disintegration can be normal for vintage items and need to be taken into account.
There is widespread confusion on the internet about the difference between chips and nicks, or hairlines and cracks. I will reflect any damage as truthfully as I can, i.e. a nick is a tiny bit of damage smaller than 1mm and a chip is something you can easily see with the eye; a glazing line is a break in the glazing only; hairline is extremely tight and/or superficial and not picked up by the finger; and a crack is obvious both to the eye and the finger. Etcetera - I try to be as accurate as I can and please feel free to ask questions or request more detailed pictures!
DIMENSIONS 20.5cm (8") diameter
