The auction house’s next quarterly fine sale on March 18 is notable for a large section of English porcelain including two collections which together offer around 200 lots of Worcester and another 80 lots of Caughley.
The mask-head jugs produced at the Caughley porcelain works are now among its most desirable products, especially if they feature a local topographical decorative element in the form of the famous bridge at Ironbridge. Such pieces can also have the added attraction of a date and inscription, something that collectors of early ceramics always covet.
Evangelical messenger
This jug decorated with a transfer print of the iron bridge and the inscription 'Mr Berridge 1790' is on offer at Halls on March 18.
Halls’ auction has just such a piece: a 7in (19cm) high jug decorated with a transfer print of the bridge and the inscription Mr Berridge 1790.
The saleroom’s Caroline Dennard has researched the Ironbridge print and thinks the likely source is an engraving by William Ellis which was inspired by a Michael Angelo Rooker watercolour of the bridge.
She has tentatively suggested that the name could refer to the 18th century evangelical revivalist Reverend John Berridge, who preferred to be addressed as Mr Berridge. He also had strong links to the Hill family of Hawstone who were known Caughley patrons.
The jug is expected to make in the region of £3000.
