Description:
English delft circular bowl with blue decoration and the inscriptions, "C R2" and "1666". Although the bowl is period, the portrait and date are 20th century fakes. Dated and commemorative ceramics are highly collectible and achieve great interest and high prices on the antique market. From all outward appearances, this is an English tin-glazed earthenware or delft bowl, made in 1666 during the reign of Charles II; such a piece of pottery would be very rare and valuable. In reality, the bowl is 18th century Continental European delftware that started as an undecorated example. Later decoration, possibly added in the twentieth century, effectively enhanced its value. Similarly redecorated objects appeared about 1900, after the publication of J. E. & E. Hodgkin's "Examples of Early English Pottery Named, Dated and Inscribed" (London, 1891), a collection of facsimilies of dates and inscriptions on English pottery. When closely examined and compared to authentic objects, the painting looks thin, unconvincing, and lacking in confidence and spontaneity. Telltale signs of refiring, such as excessive bubbling and black specks in the glaze also appear. The edges of cracks in the glaze and chips on the rim have melted during refiring into smooth depressions. In this case, the amount of effort put into the fake, which has fooled both dealers and collectors, resulted in a healthy profit for the maker. See cup (HD 63.126) decorated with a portrait of Charles II and dated 1663 for a true contemporary image.
Subjects:
Pottery; glaze (coating by location) Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+55.028 |
