A rare possibly unique Derby punch kettle

with ormolu handle and an unusual lemon finial to cover, painted with exotic birds in a landscape, the cover painted with moths and other insects.

c.1760-65

Ht. 10.7 inches

Illustrated by Dennis Rice, Derby Porcelain, The Golden Years. colour plate H. and discussed in the same volume pages 54, 66, and 199.

Dennis Rice comments:- “Lady Schreiber in Vol. I of her Journals refers to a visit on September 15th 1869 to Mr Hodges’ collection at Lyme where there was a ‘Chelsea tea Kettle (I should think unique), painted in birds’. At that time all early Derby pieces were attributed to Chelsea, and it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the particular kettle to which Lady Schreiber refers and which she professes to covet was in fact the kettle illustrated here”