A very rare Worcester early yellow ground potting pot and stand c.1754

A very rare Worcester early yellow ground potting pot and stand c.1754, the oval forms with basket moulding washed with a pale yellow ground and painted with flower sprays and scattered insects, the stand and basket's interior painted in the Kakiemon palette with peony, bamboo and chrysanthemum branches issuing from banded hedges, 17.3cm. (2)

Provenance: The Zorensky Collection of Worcester Porcelain Part III, Bonhams, 22nd February 2006, lot 7. The stand with a paper label for the Collection of Nina Weil, the pot with a label for the B and V Lake Collection.

Illustrated: Simon Spero and John Sandon, Worcester Porcelain 1751-1790, The Zorensky Collection, no. 49 (the stand only).

This is the earliest use of a coloured ground by the Worcester factory, and the evident problems they had in controlling the firing is doubtless the reason why examples are so rare today. The combination of the yellow ground with the Kakiemon decoration is likely to have been copied direct from Meissen rather than from Japanese originals. The shape is described in the price list of Worcester's London warehouse, circa 1754-56, as 'Potting pots & Covers, White Oval basket work' priced at 2 shillings and sixpence each.