A large English delftware tankard, dated 1766


Of generous size, cylindrical with a turned foot, finely painted in blue with a continuous hunting scene, a hare pursued by four riders and their pack of hounds, ruined buildings, mountains and a windmill behind and an elaborate tree at one side next to the handle, the base dated underneath '1766', 19.8cm high
|Provenance:Sotheby's sale 30 November 1962, lot 72Thomas G. Burn, Rous Lench Court, Christie's sale 29 May 1990, lot 25Syd Levethan, Longridge Collection, Christie's sale 25 May 2011, lot 228Literature:Illustrated by Lipski and Archer, Dated English Delftware (1984), p.190, fig.849. Also illustrated by Leslie B. Grigsby, the Longridge Collection of English Slipware and Delftware (2000), fig.D270The tradition of drinking from stirrup cups after a hunt, presumably filled from a punchbowl, accounts for a number of recorded punchbowls in delftware painted with hunting scenes, and even a tray, perhaps for serving stirrup cups. Possibly as a result of this tradition, tankards with hunting scenes are surprisingly rare.