A rare Lambeth delftware butter bowl or sweetmeat dish c.1770-80

A rare Lambeth delftware butter bowl or sweetmeat dish c.1770-80, the small bowl affixed to a plate or stand, decorated with simple formal borders and swag motifs, the interior inscribed with the letter A over J:S, some chipping, 21.5cm dia.

Provenance: acquired from Sotheby's, 6th December 1983, lot 642, formerly in the collection Louis L Lipski, no. 324.

Cf. Lipski & Archer, Dated English Delftware, p.303, no.1247 for a similar bowl dated 1777. Lipski described such bowls as being used to serve syllabub, but their true purpose is unclear.