A very rare documentary Brownlow Hill Liverpool inkpot, circa 1762

Diameter 7.4cm
No other marks

This inkpot appears to be unrecorded in the literature. It was painted in the period after the bankruptcy of the William Reid partnership in the summer of 1761 and before ownership of the Brownlow Hill porcelain manufactory was assumed by James Pennington and Co. in 1763.

There are several dated inkpots. The only earlier known dated piece of Liverpool porcelain is a William Reid inkpot painted with the ‘bird on a branch’ pattern and inscribed with the date 1759.

Other 18th century English factories known to have made inkpots include Bow, Lowestoft, Worcester and Caughley, but all are rare survivors.

Condition: 3 cm restored chip to base; two small restored chips and stabilised cracks to upper rim or ‘spout’.

Provenance: Previously with Roderick Jellicoe, London.
See: Hillis M., Liverpool Porcelain 1756-1804, 2011, p.78, ill. 3.161
Watney B., Liverpool Porcelain, Fig.75, for an example from Richard Chaffers factory
Godden G., Lowestoft Porcelains, 1985, pls.247 and 248, p.252 for Lowestoft examples.
Spero S., Exhibition 2001, no. 55, for a John Pennington inkpot dated 1786

£2,900