Soup plate, Qianlong c.1740, with the arms of Freame
with Osgood in pretence
This nine inch soup plate, with the arms of Freame with Osgood ‘in pretence’ (indicating marriage with an heiress), is quite heavily potted and exceptionally finely painted, with strong black penwork in the grisaille flower sprays on the rim, and rich gilding on the baroque armorial which is interwoven with palm leaves and surmounted by a grotesque mask, both in turquoise enamel. The reverse with an Elinor Gordon label.
Three services were made in the mid to late 1730s for the inter-related banking and merchant families of Barclay, Freame, Hanbury and Osgood. Two of these were for two of the children of John Freame, London goldsmith and banker, and his wife Priscilla Gould. Freame was proprietor of the bank of Freame & Gould at ‘The Sign of the Black Spread Eagle’ and ‘The Sign of the Three Crowns’ in Lombard Street which would eventually become Barclays Bank after the marriage in 1723 of his daughter Priscilla Freame to David Barclay (the first service). The eagle and three crowns would remain as the bank’s logo into the mid 20th century.
Priscilla’s brother, Joseph Freame, married in 1728 Ann Osgood, for whom this present second service was made. Ann’s cousin, Anna Osgood, married in 1730 John Hanbury, the Quaker tobacco merchant, one of the leading London Virginia merchants who had vast plantation holdings in Virginia, Maryland and Ohio – for whom the third service was made. The same Osgood arms are in the centre of both services.
Reference : Howard, David S.; Chinese Armorial Porcelain, Volume I, p.295
Condition : Very small reverse edge chips filled, otherwise perfect with strong and original enamels
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