A STAFFORDSHIRE SLIPWARE PRESS-MOLDED DISH EARLY 18TH CENTURY |

decorated in the center with a stag picked out in brown slip above the initials IC within narrow borders of blue slip dots, over molded diamond triangles and lozenges, within a 'cockle-shell' rim.

Sotheby’s London, March 6, 1990, lot 224;
Jonathan Horne, London, March 1990;
Vogel Collection no. 522.

In good condition and appearance. Only typical glaze loss to rim and minor areas of raised decoration
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

At least four other stag dishes marked with the initials ‘I C’ are recorded; one decorated in dark brown and mid-brown slip from the Harriet Carlton Goldweitz Collection was sold, Sotheby’s, New York, January 20, 2006, lot 48, previously sold, Sotheby Park Bernet, Inc., New York, January 10, 1975, lot 9; a second dish also with dark and mid-brown slip from the Collection of Mrs. Stella Pitt-Rivers was sold, Sotheby’s, London, June 14, 1988, lot 311; two further examples are illustrated by Ross E. Taggart, The Frank P. and Harriet C. Burnap Collection of English Pottery, Kansas City, 1967, p. 25, nos. 12 and 13, the former decorated in dark brown slip like the present example.

The initials also feature on a dish decorated with a crowned lion, which is in the Glaisher Collection at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, ob. no. C.187-1928, published by Bernard Rackham, Catalogue of the Glaisher Collection of Pottery and Porcelain in the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge, Cambridge, 1935, Vol. I, p. 33, no. 187, and illustrated as a line drawing by Ronald G. Cooper, English Slipware Dishes 1650-1850, London, 1968, p. 99, no. 70. At least two other lion dishes have sold at auction, one, the Property of Miss J. Lyall was sold at Sotheby’s, London, July 7, 1969, lot 1; and the other was sold at Sotheby’s, London, April 27^, 1976, lot 45, and again at Christie’s, London, June 1, 1987, lot 21. A mold for a dish with a geometric pattern and the initials ‘I C I’ and the name ‘Thomas Wedgwood’ in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is illustrated by Cooper, ibid, p. 108, which the author links it on stylistic grounds to the Stag dishes.

The initials also feature on a clock face dish, formerly in the Collection of Ernest Allman, now at Colonial Williamsburg, illustrated by Cooper, ibid, 1968, pl. 266; and Leslie B. Grigsby, English Slip-Decorated Earthenware at Williamsburg, Williamsburg, 1993, p. 44, pl. 53. The ‘I C’ potter seems to have looked for inspiration in the contemporary dishes produced by Samuel Malkin, six of which bear dates between 1712 and 1734. A clock face dish signed ‘Sam[uel] Malkin/ The maker/ in bur/[reversed s]la/m’, with a date generally interpreted as 1712 (though it may also be read as 1729) is illustrated by Leslie B. Grigsby, The Longridge Collection of English Slipware and Delftware, London, 2000, Vol. 1, pp. 66-67, S11.