Porringer, Qianlong c.1750, with the arms of Lovett of Ireland and Buckinghamshire
A porringer, posset pot or caudle cup, of very rare form in Chinese armorial services, 5" tall with a slightly domed cover with flaring edges, and shell-form flat handles in the style of an equelle.
The crest on the cover is another unusual feature for this mid-century date; by this period the armorial was normally confined to the main body with flowers only on the cover. The armorial is repeated on the reverse, as is the crest on the cover.
These are the arms and crest of Lovett of Liscombe Park in Buckinghamshire and also of Ireland, where Christopher Lovett (1630-80), a draper and merchant in Turkey, settled in Dublin in 1655, marrying Frances Moore (or O’More) daughter of Pierce Moore of Raheenduff, and serving as alderman and Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1676-7. Although a fifth son, by 1710 this had become the senior line, becoming ’of Liscombe and Tipperary’. All of the seven children of Christopher and Frances remained in Ireland, with two of their sons having heirs. Of these, the most likely candidate for this service would be Christopher Lovett of Dublin (d.1762) who married Jane, daughter of Alexander Cosby of Stradbally, for whose immediately family at least four armorial services were ordered around this time. It is also perhaps no coincidence that his second cousin, Catherine Moore, married in 1748 the Revd. John Meade of Ballymartle, son of the Dean of Cork, for whom a service was made in similar style with a central scene of pheasants on rockwork (see Meade, CAP II p.219.)
Plates of this service have the armorial on the lower rim and a central scene of a pair of Chinese pheasants on rockwork with famille rose peonies - see third image (archive photo only).
Provenance: From the Phil Cooke Collection by family descent. With Collection label No.873
Reference : Howard, David S.; Chinese Armorial Porcelain, Volume I, p.340
Condition : Restoration to tip of finial which has been regilded. All else perfect.
Size : 5 inches tall to top of finial, 5 inches across the handles
Click image to enlarge