An important London delftware salt, circa 1680


The spreading foot applied with three bun feet and painted in blue with a continuous scene of chinoiserie figures seated amongst rocks, trees and flowering plants, a turned band just above, the dished top section painted with the same figure, the turnover rim with scrolled motifs, 11.2cm high
|This precise shape has not been recorded in English delftware although more waisted spool-form salts are recorded with three scrolled vertical supports applied to the rim, possibly to support a plate. Two undecorated examples of this more waisted form, probably Pickleherring Quay or Rotherhithe, are illustrated by Michael Archer, Delftware in the Fitzwilliam Museum (2013), p. 273. However, less waisted forms, more like the present example, were also found on the Rotherhithe site. Related border decoration is found on a porringer illustrated by Leslie B Grigsby, The Longridge Collection (2000), p.206-207 and on a vase illustrated by Louis L Lipski, Dated English Delftware (1984), p.356, no.1567, both in combination with similar Chinese figure decoration.