Chelsea Creamboat, Circa 1745-49 The incised triangle period.

An extremely rare and highly important early Chelsea Creamboat, the rococo silver shaped form modelled in the white as an upturned fluted Conch-like shell, supported on a triangular platform encrusted with small shells, coral and seaweed, with scrolled coral handle.

There are many features of the body and paste of this piece which point to a Chelsea attribution. Firstly the close compact and slightly glossy opaque quality to the paste. Also when looking at the thickly glazed areas through raking and transmitted light one notices a greenish blue character consistent with the earliest class of Chelsea. The speckling on the underside of the footrim can also be compared to show the same characteristics of marked Incised triangle pieces such as the shell encrusted salts, small beakers and the dolphin salts. There is also a great quantity and area of blistering high on the coral handle and at the edge of the lip of the creamboat, the nature of this roughness again is characteristic only to Chelsea. When viewing this piece through transmitted light one also sees the typical greenish blue translucency with pinpricks of luminosity which is the Incised Triangle paste. Finally the shape and nature of the design is very much inspired by silver and other shell encrusted forms produced at the factory and designed by Nicholas Sprimont, the proprietor of the factory.