Ewer and Wash Bowl, India Temple

Item Number: M12
Shape Type: Ewer and Wash Bowl
Pattern Name:  India Temple
Date: c. 1814-1830
Dimensions:  Ewer: D 9.75″, H 11.25″; Wash Bowl: D 14.5″, H 5″
Maker: John & William Ridgway
Maker’s Mark: Printed

A large earthenware ewer and wash bowl with a molded gadrooned border printed in blue underglaze with the India Temple pattern. The jug’s handle is elegantly molded and the pedestal of the jug is molded in a simple linear pattern. This pattern is copied from a source print.  The caption under the engraving reads “The Figure of Heaven is all Delightful–A View of the Temple serv’d by Eunuchs, & of the delicious Round Island it stands upon”. A colored version of the print appears in the 1973 book “Log of the Centurion”.  The pattern and source print are recorded in the TCC Database of Patterns and Sources.  This wash set is documented in Chinoiserie: Printed British Ceramics in the Chinese Style, 1750-1900 by R. Halliday and L Zeller, Gomer Press, 2018.
The set is currently on loan to the Montpelier Foundation and is exhibited in President James Madison’s bed chamber.
Condition:  Very Good. Three chips to the underside of the base of the jug.