Creamware cylindrical tankard – £1300 at Historical & Collectable.
He had moved to the West Indian territories after the end of the Seven Years War in 1763 and made a career painting sometimes romanticised views of local life.
This particular engraving was published in February 1779 with the mug made perhaps a decade later around the time of the founding of The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade (1787). It thus ranks among the earliest of memorabilia produced for the anti-slavery movement.
Despite its tired condition (there are three large hairline cracks to the base and the side) it took £1300 via thesaleroom.com at Historical & Collectable (20% buyer’s premium) of Reading on March 22.
Commemorative ceramics of this type are enjoying a purple patch in the saleroom. Anti-slavery pieces in the Robin Simpson collection sold by H&C in association with Woolley & Wallis in September 2021 raced away.
Minton jug
Jug by Minton – £1300 at Historical & Collectable.
Also for sale in March was a 6in (15cm) jug by Minton printed en-grisaille with two figures: a female cradling an infant and a kneeling figure holding a Bible, broken chains at his side.
It had an impressed wheel mark (used for the year 1842) and was probably sold the following year.
While the Slavery Abolition act became law on August 1, 1834, it was not until 1843 that all exemptions were removed. This rare jug also sold at £1300.
