A collection of Worcester porcelain, circa 1770-85
Comprising a chestnut basket, cover and stand, left in the white with gilt highlights, the twig handles with flower spray terminals, the pierced cover and stand with arched panels and florets, the basket with florets within a honeycomb design, stand 26cm wide, a teapot of reeded 'French' shape, painted with colourful 'Dishevelled Birds', an underglaze blue and gilt scroll border, 13.5cm high, crescent mark, a teapot of barrel shape, painted with colourful flower sprays, with gilt highlights, 13.8cm high, and a teabowl and saucer painted with floral sprigs, saucer 12.2cm diam (9)
Footnotes:
Provenance
Property from an International Private Collection

The chestnut basket corresponds to one of the 'Two fine oval white and gold cream-basons [sic], pierced covers and plates' which sold for £15.6s in the 1769 Worcester sale. Another from the Zorensky Collection was sold by Bonhams on 23 February 2005, lot 213.
This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: *
* VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.

The chestnut basket, cover and stand is in good overall condition save for a small, shallow chip to the outside edge of the flange of the cover, approximately 3mm x 4mm in size. There is a tiny manufacturing flaw at one point of the rim of the cover where the gilt dentil rim has not taken, approximately 5mm in total width, and a minute glaze chip nearby approximately 2mm in width. There are a few typical losses to the tips of some leaves and one flower at the handle terminals of the basket and a loss to one petal of a flower on the stand, but the remaining applied leaves and flowers are in remarkably good condition. There is some very minor wear to the gilt dentil border to the centre of the stand but the gilding is otherwise bright and clean overall.

The teapot with birds is in good condition save for a fleabite chip to the tip of one of the petals of the finial. There is a vertical firing crack to one side of the spout where it joins the body approximately 3cm in length from manufacture, gilded over in places. There is a small fleabite chip to the top of the spout also from manufacture as this has also been gilded over. The gilding and enamel decoration is in bright and clean with virtually no wear.

The floral teapot is in good condition with no damage, save for a tiny sliced chip to the tip of the finial. There is some wear to the gilt decoration on the handle, and some minor wear to the red-line rims of the teapot and spout. The gilt and enamelled decoration is otherwise bright and clean. There is a very faint short firing crack filled with glaze running underneath the finial of the cover, and another to the footrim, both from manufacture and of no real significance.

The teabowl and saucer is in good condition with no damage, save for a few minute patches of wear to the gilt-line rim of the teabowl only.