An exceptional pickle dish, Lund's Bristol or possibly Limehouse, circa 1749-51An exceptional pickle dish, Lund's Bristol or possibly Limehouse, circa 1749-51Of scallop shell form, finely painted in blue with a group of fruits including a pear on a stone slab, with a scrolled border and maple leaves in the lower corners, the underside with two trailing branches, 9.2cm highProvenanceSylvia and Alan Low CollectionA somewhat vitrified appearance probably indicates the presence of soaprock in the paste used for this dish. This strongly suggests that this shell dish was made at Lund's Bristol, even though the European style decoration of fruit is more closely associated with porcelain attributed to Limehouse. See the example from the Watney Collection sold by Bonhams, 1 November 2000, lot 905. A pickle dish illustrated by Ray Jones, The Origins of Worcester Porcelain (2018), p.380, fig.vi, is painted in similar European style and the leaf and shell motifs at the base also strongly resembles those on the present lot and although no chemical analysis is shown, Jones confirms his belief that this too was made from a soaprock-based recipe. See also three further examples illustrated by Jones, p.253. Pears appear on the lower corners of fig.vi.