A London delftware tulip dish, Southwark or Lambeth ( Norfolk House), circa 1665-85

painted in blue, ochre, turquoise and manganese with a single tulip and leaves growing from a mound inside two concentric manganese lines, the reverse with a lead glaze, cracks

There are three hairline cracks to the rim, the largest located at 11 o'clock measures 9.7cm long. A chip to the underside of the rim measures 3.4cm wide.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Between 1912 and 1934, the banker, Cecil Baring, 3^rd Lord Revelstoke, assembled a large and enviable collection of British pottery. It included delftware, slipware, Pratt ware and saltglaze stoneware. Baring traded with, and took advice from Louis Gautier, one of the leading pottery dealers and experts of the early 20^thcentury. The following lots in the sale, many of them previously owned by Gautier, come from Lambay, Co. Dublin, the Irish island home that Sir Edward Lutyens created for the Barings in what is considered his masterpiece in Romantic castle architecture. At Lambay, Baring and his wife Maude Lorillard displayed their pottery against whitewashed walls or on scrubbed-oak furniture, creating a late Arts and Crafts look.

Lutyens was closely associated with Baring’s projects to house his ever-growing collection. He altered Beechwood, an early 19^th century villa near Slough, in 1924, to house part of it and to provide a base for outings for the staff at Baring Brothers bank.

In the late 1920’s, Baring bought the two-acre former site of Shrewsbury House on the corner of Cheyne Walk and Oakley Street in Chelsea with the aim of building a Thames-side museum to house his collection, which by then ran to around a thousand pieces. Two classical schemes by Lutyens for this museum, dubbed `Pot Hall’, are in the RIBA collection. Baring mulled over the museum idea for up to seven years before abandoning the project in 1931.

Following Cecil Baring’s death in 1934, a large part of his collection was sold by his son Rupert, 4^th Lord Revelstoke, at Puttick & Simpson of London, between 20 and 23^rd November, 1934. Louis Gautier, the man who knew the collection better than any other, bought 104 out of the 861 lots offered for sale. Other significant buyers were Partridge and Hyam. Highlights over the four days of selling included the 1709 Bristol delftware bowl with the arms of the Carpenters’ Company acquired for £231 by the National Art Collections Fund ( Bristol Museum and Art Gallery G3170); and a slipware charger by Thomas Toft depicting the Duke of York and his wife, Anne Hyde, now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.