Probably German, Saxony, cira 1730

Probably acquired by William Beckford (1760-1844), Bath or London, England;

by descent to his daughter Susan Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton (1786-1859), Hamilton Palace, South Lanarkshire, Scotland;

By descent within the collection of the Dukes of Hamilton, Hamilton Palace, South Lanarkshire, Scotland;

Certainly William Douglas-Hamilton, 12th Duke of Hamilton (1845-1895), Hamilton Palace, South Lanarkshire, Scotland;

His sale, The Hamilton Palace Collection sale, Christie's, 19 July 1882, lot 2035 (« A Fluted Cup, of brown jasper, on stem and foot of the same, mounter with metal gilt – 5 in. high.”), bought by W. Boore for £162, 15s.

William Beckford, son of the Whig politician Alderman William Beckford (1709–1770), was one of the most extraordinary men of his age, renowned for his voracious appetite for collecting art. He acquired and disposed of artworks at a frenetic pace. Indeed, he is recorded as having written to his agent excitedly about buying  “certain little Saxon tazza” (see T. Mowl, ‘ William Beckford: A biographical perspective’, in P. Hewat-Jaboor and B. McLeod, William Beckford, 1760-1844: An Eye for the Magnificent, exh. cat., Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture, p. 29).