Worcester Pierced Porcelain Basket, Blue Scale Japanese Kakiemon, Circa 1765

This is a rare and beautiful porcelain basket made by Worcester circa 1765 in their 1st or "Dr Wall" period. These baskets were used for dinners or desserts to serve fruit or bread. The basket is decorated in the famous "blue scale" ground with very fine Japanese Kakiemon-style paintings.

Worcester was one of the first potteries in Britain to create items in porcelain. Alongside other great potteries such as Derby, Chelsea and Bow, they pioneered a new industry that would grow out to be huge in the following century. This cup and saucer are from the first period, which is often called the "Dr Wall" period after its founder. In later years Worcester went through many different ownerships and styles, and ultimately it became the Royal Worcester factory that only finished operation in the early 21st Century.

This beautiful basket has been potted very finely in slightly beige early porcelain. Its walls are pierced and the handles are shaped like twigs. The outside of the basket is dotted with little encrusted pink flowers, and both handles have yellow flowers with some green leaves. The bottom of the basket has a blue scale ground, and you can clearly see why this is called "blue scale"; it consists of a pattern that looks like fish scales. This is to hide the fact that at the time they were not able yet to create a smooth blue ground; this way the fact that the blue colour, applied under the glaze, was runny (or "flow blue") is nicely taken advantage of. The reserves have been painted very finely in red, green and yellow with Japanese Kakiemon-style flowers and shrubs. The inside of the wall of the basket has little painted flowers dotted all-over.

The paintwork and the pottery of this basket is of extraordinary quality.

The basket is marked on the underside with the underglaze blue square fret mark that Worcester used at the time, and which is in itself is an imitation of Chinese marks.

Condition report: The basket is in excellent antique condition without any chips, cracks or crazing and hardly any wear. There is a very small professional repair near one of the handles, which is invisible to the naked eye and is only visible under UV light.

Antique British porcelain is never perfect. Kilns were fired on coal, and this meant that china from that period can have some firing specks from flying particles. British makers were also known for their experimentation, and sometimes this resulted in technically imperfect results. Due to the shrinkage in the kiln, items can have small firing lines or develop crazing over time, which should not be seen as damage but as an imperfection of the maker's recipes, probably unknown at the time of making. Items have often been used for many years and can have normal signs of wear, and gilt can have signs of slight disintegration even if never handled. I will reflect any damage, repairs, obvious stress marks, crazing or heavy wear in the item description but some minor scratches, nicks, stains and gilt disintegration can be normal for vintage items and need to be taken into account.

There is widespread confusion on the internet about the difference between chips and nicks, or hairlines and cracks. I will reflect any damage as truthfully as I can, i.e. a nick is a tiny bit of damage smaller than 1mm and a chip is something you can easily see with the eye; a glazing line is a break in the glazing only; hairline is extremely tight and/or superficial and not picked up by the finger; and a crack is obvious both to the eye and the finger. Etcetera - I try to be as accurate as I can and please feel free to ask questions or request more detailed pictures!

Dimensions: 25.5cm (10") X 23cm (9"), 7cm (2.75") high.

Condition report:

Repaired: one small invisible repair in wall of basket. Wear consistent with age and use. In excellent condition, one small invisible repair, otherwise perfect.