Jug of soft-paste porcelain, painted with enamels and gilded, and with a globular body, a wide reeded cylindrical neck with projecting lip and a loop handle, Derby, 1784-1787

Jug of soft-paste porcelain, painted with enamels and gilded, and with a globular body, a wide reeded cylindrical neck with projecting lip and a loop handle, and on the front are the letters 'D.P.C' in cornflowers surmounted by an oval wreath of cornflowers, and round the rim and shoulder are borders of gilt flowers and white jewelled dots on a bleu de roiground.

Given by Lady Charlotte Schreiber

Purchased by Lady Charlotte Schreiber from Thatcher, London, for £11 in December 1871

Daniel Parker Coke was elected MP for Derby in 1776. In the 1928 catalogue of the Schreiber Collection the jug was dated to 1802 (on the basis of the form of the mark), when Coke was re-elected to Parliament, but it can now be firmly dated to the 1780s. It was possibly made to commemorate Coke's 40th birthday. See Stephen Mitchell, The Marks on Chelse-Derby and early Crossed-Batons useful wares, 1770-c.1790 (2007), pl. 86

The initials are those of Daniel Parker Coke (1745-1825) of Trusley and Pinxton, who was elected MP for Derby (on petition) in 1776. He served as the MP for Nottingham from 1780 until 1812, having been re-elected in 1802. The jug was dated to 'about 1802' in the 1928 edition of the catalogue of the Schreiber Collection, but Stephen Mitchell (2007, see References) dates it to 1784-87, suggesting that the initialling beneath the chaplet may indicate that it was made for an anniversary or marriage (and not re-election to Parliament).

Stephen Mitchell (see References) attributes the factory mark and gilding to Thomas Soare

414:466-1885