A Worcester Teapot Stand, circa 1766
Transfer-printed over the glaze in black with Robert Hancock’s Milkmaids pattern, after an engraving by Robert Sayer (published in 1766). Contemporary records refer to this mode of black printed decoration as ‘jet enamelled’.
Signed RH Worcester to the lower right.
It is interesting to compare the milkmaids, posed as they are with churns resting on their heads, with that of the central figure in William Hogarth’s 1741 etching and engraving The Enraged Musician (see final image).
Rustic genre scenes such as this were enormously popular subjects on porcelain in the late 1760s.
The shape of this hexagonal teapot stand is shallower and more finely potted than is typical of this period, and the paste also suggests that it may have been made earlier than is indicated by the date of the printed design.
Condition: Excellent – no chips, cracks or restoration, just light wear from use, and minor firing blemishes.
Dimensions: Width 13.3 cm
Worcester Porcelain 1751-1790: The Zorensky Collection, Simon Spero & John Sandon (Antique Collectors’ Club, 1996).