circa 1820, basket with reticulated body, butterfly and foliate rim, two gilt painted handles, interior ground hand painted scene of figures in a landscape, underneath a flowering tree, arms of Seton of Touch (now of Abercorn) depicted on rim, arms quartered, first and fourth three iron red crescents on a gilt ground, quartering Hay second and third three escutcheons in iron red on white ground, surmounted by boar's head, held by two greyhounds above the motto "Forward Ours", 9 in.; stand having central hand painted cartouche depicting a Chinese figure on horseback with follower, traveling up a mountain, similar butterfly and foliate border with same arms to rim, further reticulated and gilt borders, 9-3/8 in.

Note: "This is the fourth of four services made with these arms: the first, c. 1770 for Sir Henry Seton, 4th Baronet, died 1788; the second and third services for his son, Sir Alexander Seton, 5th Baronet, died 1810, and this one almost certainly for his eldest son, Sir Henry John Seton, 6th Baronet, who succeeded his father but never married.

This service may well have been brought back by one of his brothers, for the three youngest were all in the Hon. East India Company. Sir Henry John Seton was Groom-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria and had served in the Peninsular War at a very young age. He died in a London street accident when he was run over in 1868 and was succeeded by his next brother, Charles, who died the following year."

Illustrated in: Chinese Armorial Porcelain Volume II, David S. Howard, Heirloom & Howard, Ltd., Wiltshire, UK, 2003, p. 674.

Provenance: Christopher M. Weld, Essex, Massachusetts

each with scratching, wear and loss to paint and gilt decoration, spotting, anomalies (as made), labels to base, blacklight fluoresces to both handles, suggesting in-painting and restoration