The baluster tankard is printed in iron-red with three scenes after drawings by Hubert-François Gravelot, the French artist who came to England from Paris in 1732, and almost more than anyone else, is credited with introducing the Rococo to England. He left behind a wealth of designs when he returned to Paris in 1746. He had his own drawing school as well as being involved with the St Martins Lane Academy.[i]
The original drawing and engraving by Hubert-François Gravelot, Recently acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum
The original drawings and engravings of two of the three scenes on this tankard appear in an album of thirty pen and ink drawings by Gravelot and 70 etchings by James Cole of around 1740-45 bound together in an album which we recently sold to the Victoria and Albert Museum.[ii] The third scene, the Whip-Top, also after Gravelot is known from a later engraving from after his return to Paris.[iii]
Whilst there are no recorded dated examples of Bow transfer printed wares, John Bowcock, the warehouse manager and Clerk at Bow, records in his papers in June 1756 ‘1 pint printed mug, 5s; 1 half-pint ditto., 3s 6d.’[iv]
These early transfer prints were by no means considered a lesser type of decoration than hand painted wares. The draughtsmanship was much finer than the painted decoration at Bow and would have appealed for the novelty of the technique. Only later when mass production became entrenched was transfer printing demoted to a cheaper type of production.
Condition:
Two chips to foot, minute chip to rim, 1.5 cm haircrack from rim
An area of dryness in the glaze due to firing.
Provenance:
Anton Gabszewicz Collection
Anon. sale Sotheby’s, 5.4.2002, lot 147
References:
Girouard 1966
Mark Girouard, Coffee at Slaughter’s, English Art and the Rococo – 1, Country Life, January 13, 1966 pp. 58-61
Guy-Jones 2013
Gordon & Sue Guy-Jones, Bow Porcelain, On-glaze Prints and their Sources, (The English Ceramic Circle 2013), nos 9, 34 & 61
Links to the drawings and engravings in the Victoria and Albert Museum
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1771649/album-cole-james/
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1810096/albums-cole-james/
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1810097/albums-cole-james/
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1810109/albums-cole-james/
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1810108/albums-cole-james/
[i] Girouard 1966 pp. 58 – 60.
[ii] Victoria and Albert Museum accession number E.232:1 to 103-2024.
[iii] Guy-Jones 2013, p. 92, no. 61.
[iv] Guy-Jones 2013, p. 7.
RESERVED