SOLD 18th Century English Worcester Porcelain Shakespeare Tankard

Of straight-sided cylindrical form, with ear-form handle.

Transfer-printed in black with a full-length portrait of Shakespeare after William Kent's drawing-made-real by sculptor Peter Scheemaker. The original monument to the Bard was erected in Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey 1740 and became a popular image for reproduction between 1740 and 1770.

William Kent's drawing uses as its role model Joshua Reynolds' 1761 painting of actor David Garrick between the muses Comedy and Tragedy.

The image on the tankard thus cleverly conflates Shakespeare's comedies and tragedies with the image of Garrick sandwiched between the two (battling) muses. 

Circa 1765-1770. 

Condition: A few typical dots of frit.

Provenance: Tenacre & Co., 1999. 

Robin Henry Ceramic Collection, New York.

Collection #17.

Literature: Joseph M. Handley, 18th Century English Transfer-Printed Porcelain and Enamels, 1995, pp. 28-29, for this example. Handley's book features (in great part) his own collection, which was later auctioned. 

A similar example is in the collection of the Gardiner Museum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, no. G98.6.5.

Please note: The shipping weight on items is not the actually weight of an item, but an estimated measure of the weight a double boxed item will be after proper packing. 

Additional images are available on request, please email for more specific details.