Domestic,fritware, white glaze with blue designs, Delhi 1885

The bottle has a circular body with flattened sides swelling to a convex boss at the centre of each side raised on a rectangular foot. and a short tubular neck. The decoration is painted in cobalt-blue on a white ground with a vitreous glaze. The bosses are painted with an orchid-like flower and leaves enclosed by a ring of wavy foliated stems. On each side of the perimeter there is a vertical floral device. Two loop handles at the top either side of the neck are missing.

Purchased from Lady Ilbert, The Speaker's Court, Palace of Westminster

Delhi fritware was produced from about the 1870s onwards and was formed in moulds or raised by hand as the pieces were made of ground feldspar mixed with gum or starch which did not allow it to be thrown on a wheel. See Watt, Sir George, Indian Art at Delhi: being the Official Catalogue of the Delhi Exhibition, 1902-03, Calcutta, n.d., pp. 90-91

Purchased from Lady Ilbert, The Speaker's Court, Palace of Westminster. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Museum records (Asia Department registers and/or Central Inventory) as part of a 2023 provenance research project.

R.P. 1921/958

IM.86-1921