Salt holder in the shape of a shell.

This salt holder has a mushroom glaze and painted with a trailing flowering branch of blue-centred yellow, red and puce flowers, with green and grey leaves.  The shell is supported  by a deeply incised underside, on a rockwork and shell base with pricked moss. It is 3½ inches (9cm.) wide. This is a rare piece and one of the earliest produced at the factory, circa 1747-49. Listed No. 35 in the Catalogue.

Wares in this "Famille Rose" decorative style are of a predominantly pink palette, inspired by Chinese export porcelain. The peony decoration began to appear from about 1747 and became popular on mugs, plates and dishes throughout the 1750s

Photograph copyright Michael Booth.