A Derby ‘Dry-edge’ Partridge Tureen and Cover, circa 1750-55
This Derby ‘Dry-edge’ tureen and cover is naturalistically modelled in the white as a partridge sitting on a basketwork nest, the bird’s head turned to the right. A band of sieved clay applied to the rim of the nest represents grasses and mosses. The basketwork base is also moulded with cornstalks.
This tureen is based on an earlier Meissen example modelled by Kändler, and was intended to delight and amuse dinner guests during the dessert course. ‘Dry-edge’ porcelain was created during the earliest, experimental period at Derby, and is defined by a distinctive manufacturing technique where the glaze was wiped away from the base of a piece, leaving a narrow, unglazed rim.
A companion to this Derby tureen, the partridge lying with its head turned to the left, was exhibited by Winifred Williams, Exhibition of Eighteenth Century European White Porcelain, Burlington House Fair, June 1975, cat. no. 21.
Condition: Very good – there is a small area of restoration to hide a short crack on the front of the base (nest), from the rim to the edge of the underside, below where the bird’s head sits. There is also restoration to a small break in the rim beside the tail. The restoration is of a professional standard. A tiny slither is lacking from the lower edge of the beak, although this is not obvious. There are typical losses to the sieved clay and applied feathers surrounding the nest. No other damage. A short, fully-glazed clay tear beside the bird’s left wing is also visible to the interior, and there is a clay tear along the mould seam on the unglazed base. Both of these tears occurred during manufacture. Typically, the glaze contains particles of kiln dust from firing.
Dimensions: Length (from tip of tail feathers) 12 cm
Ref. See Bonhams, London, December 2, 2009, lot 185, for the Winifred Williams companion tureen.
Derby Porcelain 1750-1798, H. Gilbert Bradley (1990).
Derby Porcelain 1748-1848, John Twitchett (Antique Collectors’ Club, 2002).