This is a gorgeous porcelain basket made Chamberlains Worcester between 1830 and 1832. The basket is decorated with painted fruits by the famous painter Thomas Steele.
The Chamberlain factory was founded in the 1780s by Robert Chamberlain, who was responsible for the decoration department in the famous Worcester pottery during the Dr Wall period. He set up his own factory with his son Humphrey, initially buying up stock from Turner's Caughley factory for decoration, but then around 1794 starting to produce their own porcelain. By the year 1800 they had built up a strong reputation, producing wonderful tea and dinner ware for the British and European nobility and becoming a mighty competitor of both the Worcester/Flight & Barr and Grainger factories. In the 1840s the factory merged back with Worcester, which later also bought Grainger and was formed into the later Royal Worcester.
Baskets like these were often placed in the hallway of a large house to collect mail and visitors' cards.
This basket is beautifully moulded with sprigs of foliage and little flowers around the rims, all picked off in soft yellow and gilt, and a handle in the shape of a twig. The foot has a gilt geometric pattern with little gilt tulips. The inside of the basket has an exceptionally beautiful painting of a grouping with fruits placed on a bed of moss, painted by the famous painter Thomas Steele.
Thomas Steele (sometimes written as Steel) is considered the very best 19th Century porcelain painter of fruits. He was born in Staffordshire in 1772 and was first apprenticed by Wedgwood. He moved to Derby in 1815, where he became the foremost flower and fruit painter. In 1825 he moved on to the Rockingham factory in Yorkshire, and he worked at Chamberlains in Worcester between 1830 and 1832, after which he moved on to Minton in Staffordshire, where he worked the rest of his life.
Steele had a very recognisable style of fruit painting, perhaps best described by the biographer John Haslem:
"Steele painted both flowers and insects well, but as a painter of fruit on china he had no superior, if, indeed, he had any equal in his day... His grouping is harmonious, the light and shade well managed, each piece of fruit is well rounded, and the outline softened and blended into the one next to it, each partaking of the reflected colour from the other."
The basket is marked with the hand written red Chamberlains Worcester mark, mis-spelled as "Chamberlainns Worcester". A nearly identical basket can be found in plate 255, page 217 in Geoffrey A. Godden's book "Chamberlain-Worcester Porcelain 1788-1852".
CONDITION REPORT The basket is in excellent antique condition without any damage, crazing or repairs, or even any visible wear.
Antique British porcelain is never perfect. Kilns were fired on coal in the 1800s, and this meant that china from that period could have some firing specks from flying particles. British makers were also known for their experimentation, which sometimes 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: 22.5cm (8.75") X 18cm (7"); 13cm (5") tall.
Chamberlains Worcester porcelain basket, fruits Thomas Steele, 1830-1832
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We always aim to have happy customers so if you have an issue with or questions about your item, please contact us and we will do anything we can to resolve the issue with you!
