Notes:
For information about the incised ‘R’ mark on Bow porcelain, see Gabszewicz, 2000, ‘Bow Porcelain: the incised 'R' marked group and associated wares’ in ‘Transactions of the English Ceramic Circle, vol.17, part 2, pp.275-95.
The pattern appears to be based on a design by the Dutch Delft painter Frederik van Frijtom, and is found on a delft plate illustrated in A. Vecht, 1968, ‘Frederik Van Fijtom, Life and Work of a Dutch Pottery Decorator’, Amsterdam, p.76, pl.40. The Dutch design was itself later imitated and appeared on Chinese and Japanese Arita porcelains. Two porcelain teabowls, one Chinese and the other Bow, are illustrated in Simon Spero, 2001, ‘English Porcelain and Enamels 1745-1791’, London, p.25, pl.37, who argues that Bow examples were in fact derived from Arita porcelain.
For the pattern on Bow porcelain see Bernard Watney, 1963, ‘English Blue and White Porcelain of the 18th century’, London, pl.10a; also Anton Gabszewicz and Geoffrey Freeman, 1982, ‘Bow Porcelain, The Collection Formed by Geoffrey Freeman’, London, p.63, pl.81-83.
For a similar Bow tea bowl see The Watney Collection, Phillips New Bond Street, 22 September 1999, lot 25
