Chamberlain’s Worcester shell form dish, George Davis birds, c. 1795
$2,950.00 AUD
Magnificent Chamberlain’s Worcester shell form dish, well painted to the centre with ‘Davis’ type exotic birds, including a peacock with tail perched on central plinth, smaller bird to left & three ‘chicks’ to the right, a rural river landscape with trees in the background,
Gilt script ‘Chamberlains Worcester’ mark,
circa 1795
Exhibition labels for: Ceramics & Glass Circle of Australia Exhibition “Birds & Butterflies’ 2004;
Ceramics & Glass Circle of Australia Exhibition “Birds & Butterflies” 1999
Also BADA import decal
21×18.5cm
Condition: some fine crazing to glaze, minor wear to high points of ribs, gilt with small patches of wear to rim, overall good & displays well.
A stunning example of Chamberlain Worcester, and decorated in the distinct manner of George Davis with ‘exotic birds’ in a landscape.
George Davis was a Worcester artist who developed a distinct style of bird painting. His hand appears on Worcester porcelain of the 1770’s, then Caughley porcelain of the later 1770’s-1780’s. This is no coincidence; he appears to have worked for Robert Chamberlain, who had a decorating studio in Worcester. He was employed decorating Worcester porcelain in a studio in Worcester, and also contracted to decorate the wares of Caughley, which were transported to Worcester for him to decorate. In 1783, Robert Chamberlain left the main Worcester works and established his own works nearby, where he continued to decorate both Caughley & Worcester, but by the 1790’s was decorating his own wares. This shell-shape dish is an example of his early wares, with a clear glaze and slightly grey tone to the body. Post 1800, their products tend to be a much brighter white body.
The birds on this dish seem to be of ‘mixed race’- definitely a male peacock on the central plinth, while the smaller, female is not a drab peacock, but a rather colourful exotic bird. To the right in the near distance are assumably their offspring – three small brightly-feathered birds – who seem to take after their mother!
These are the distinct ‘Davis Birds’, and compare very well to a Caughley Porcelain jug in the Victoria & Albert Museum, although interestingly that family group has a definite peacock and peahen. The other directly attributable detail of both pieces is the swags of fruit & flowers.
The mazarine blue ground with rich gilt patterns is not unique to Chamberlain’s Worcester, but all the same compares very well, as it does to other pieces such as the famous Chamberlain production, the Hope Service of 1790-92.
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