A rare two-handled lead glass posset pot attributed to George Ravenscroft, Savoy Glasshouse, London, circa 1680

Inspired by silver and English tin-glazed earthenware posset pots from the period of King Charles II, wide bellied posset pots are rare in glass. Similarly-shaped mugs are recorded in the literature but as yet no posset pots of this specific form and large size have yet to appear.

The handle forms with a turned-in spur to the inside top and the pincered double-scroll terminal match those on a smaller straight-sided posset pot with gadrooned base and spout applied with the raven's-head seal of George Ravenscroft, now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, (see catalogue, 'Glass at the Fitwilliam Museum', fig.174). The gadrooning on the base matches that found on a number of Ravenscroft posset pots, bowls and tazze (see E.B.Haynes, 'Some pre-Ravenscroft Glasses', Connoisseur, May 1950, pp.88-93; R.J.Charleston, 'Some important early English glasses', Antiques, January 1963, pp.92-94; J.PaulHudson, 'George Ravenscroft and his contribution to Glassmaking', Antiques, December 1967, pp.822-831).

A smaller sealed Ravenscroft posset pot was sold in these Rooms, 24th May 2006, lot 112 (£102,000). See the extensive footnote which accompanies that lot.