Kerr & Binns Worcester porcelain plate from the ‘Shakespeare service’ 1853

A KERR & BINNS WORCESTER PORCELAIN PLATE FROM THE ‘SHAKESPEARE SERVICE’ 1853

Decorated by Thomas Bott, Snr, and Luke Wells.

Circular, the white-glazed well with a gilt roundel to the centre enclosing classical figures within a field of flower heads and a fine dentelle edge, the speckled git-ground border in Renaissance Revival manner with chimeras and winged putti heads in relief in white biscuit flanking oval reserves, one with a portrait of Shakespeare by Bott and two decorated en brunaille by Wells with the muses Thalia and Melpomene, printed uncrowned circular factory mark underside
Accompanied by a copy of an illustrated edition of Shakespeare’s ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ (Dublin, 1853) commissioned by W.H. Kerr to accompany the exhibition of the service in Dublin.
24.8cm diameter

PROVENANCE:
The service acquired by Sir Arthur Guinness (1840-1915); later dispersed upon sale in the 1890s The present lot with Venners Antiques, New Cavendish Street, London
The Jeanne Zorensky Collection of British Ceramics, Bonhams, Oxford, 19 March, 2013, lot 121

EXHIBITIONS:
The Great Industrial Exhibition, Dublin, 1853 (the service exhibited)

OTHER NOTES:
Made (using Irish clay and gold) for the 1853 Dublin Great Industrial Exhibition, specifically to promote the Worcester porcelain factory’s wares to the Irish market a year after the Irishmen W.H. Kerr and R.W. Binns acquired the business, Binns regarded the ‘Shakespeare service’ as the finest product of their ownership. When the service was offered for sale in the 1890s, he purchased a portion of it for the museum he had established dedicated to the history of the Worcester porcelain.
After opening the Dublin exhibition, Queen Victoria was so impressed by the service she requested a private inspection of it.

Condition: Losses visible to decoration to cavetto of the plate and painted portrait cartouches Six fine rim cracks, fine dense crazing and some minor discolouration to the ground, together with minor losses to gilding to rim.

Contact us for more details or enquiries.