Fine Pottery and Porcelain - 5th February 2025
Lot 1165
A Bilston or South Staffordshire enamel scent bottle, c.1780-90, the flattened pear-shaped body
Estimate £200 - £300 | Hammer £567
Inc. Buyers Premium
Description
A Bilston or South Staffordshire enamel scent bottle, c.1780-90, the flattened pear-shaped body painted with a portrait of Anne Franks Day after Sir Joshua Reynolds, wearing a Woffington type hat and holding a small posy of flowers, the reverse with a panel of flowers, within raised gilt borders reserved on a textured white enamel ground, with silvered metal mounts, 10cm.
The early Reynolds portrait (c.1760) of Anne Franks Day was painted when she was mistress of Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Baron Edgcumbe, and likely pregnant with their last child. Following Edgcumbe's death, Day married Sir Peter Fenoulhet, becoming Lady Fenoulhet. Following their scandalous separation, she emigrated to France, but had returned to England by the time of her death in 1790.