The Sir Bruno Welby Collection of Porcelain - 6th February 2025
Lot 1689
A good and rare Chelsea octagonal beaker and saucer, c.1752, with fable decoration by Jefferyes
Estimate £1,500 - £2,000 | Hammer £5670
Inc. Buyers Premium
Description
A good and rare Chelsea octagonal beaker and saucer, c.1752, with fable decoration by Jefferyes Hamett O'Neale, the beaker painted with The Cock and the Fox, the wily bird perched high in a tree beside buildings, the saucer with The Lark and her Young Ones, the mother bird swooping down to her nest of chicks among wheat behind two harvester figures carrying a sickle and rake, brown line rims, the beaker with a raised anchor mark, 14.7cm. (2)
Cf. Stephen Hanscombe, Jefferyes Hamett O'Neale, p.31, no.2. The decoration on both pieces derives from both Francis Barlow's illustrations in the 1687 second edition of Aesop's Fables, and from Reverend Samuel Croxall's Fables of Aesop and Others, published in 1722. Figural decoration on Fable pieces is rare.