Description:
English creamware chestnut basket with a cover and stand (2006.33.6.2). Stand is probably not original to the basket. Period images of these baskets have a stand that has a short flaring rim - not a deep bowl shape stand. The circular, domed cover has a 'fir apple' finial (restored), could also be an artichoke, (found in the Leeds drawing books) and a complex pierced or openwork pattern. The base of the basket has a scalloped rim into which the lid rests; two entwined twisted handles terminating in classic Leeds flower and leaf finials; and is decorated overall with a complex openwork pattern. There is a scribe line at the bottom of the pierced work on the base. The glaze on this object has a slightly blueish color. Similar chestnut baskets and stands were made by the Leeds Pottery, Leeds, Yorkshire, England, one of which Donald Towner uses as an example of the pierced openwork decoration for which the Leeds Pottery was particularly famed. Condition: Some cracks in pierced work on sides of object. Finial of basket has been broken off and restored, overpainted.

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2006.33.6.1

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.