An unusual Bow Dessert Sugar Bowl, circa 1765-70
This sugar bowl would have been used on the dining table during the dessert course. Originally, it would have had a cover with a hole in the rim, so that a sugar sifter or spoon could easily rest there once the cover had been replaced. The form of this sugar bowl is French, the quatrelobed shape deriving from the Vincennes sucrier à compartiments.
Unusually, this piece is entirely painted by hand with a version of the Worcester Fence pattern. Bow, Lowestoft and Isleworth all produced their own printed versions of popular Worcester patterns, such as Three Flowers and Pinecone, and while it is not unknown for Chinese export wares to copy Worcester patterns by hand, it is entirely unusual for English factories to be producing painted versions.
Unmarked.
The factory excelled in the production of blue and white useful wares aimed at the emerging middle class market, the main reason for its continued success over several decades.
Condition: No damage or restoration, just small speckles of staining in places, typical of Bow phosphatic porcelain, and also an area of pooled glaze containing gas bubbles. The rim has a recess to take a cover.
Dimensions: Length 16.3 cm; Height 6.5 cm
Bow Porcelain: The Collection formed by Geoffrey Freeman, A. Gabszewicz & G. Freeman (Lund Humphries, 1982).
Godden’s Guide to Blue and White Porcelain, Geoffrey A. Godden (Antique Collectors’ Club, 2004).