Delftware punch bowl with a portrait of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender

England, Probably from Liverpool, dated AD 1749

'Bonnie Prince Charlie'

Prince Charles Edward Stuart, 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' (1720-88) lived in exile in Italy, with his father, James Francis Edward Stuart (1688-1768), the 'Old Pretender'. James, the last male Stuart monarch and staunch Roman Catholic, had been expelled following the Protestant 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688. Following the failed uprising and attempted restoration of 1715, encouraged by Jacobite sympathies throughout England and the Continent, the Young Pretender prepared for an invasion to claim the throne. The 1745 rebellion was brutally crushed and after defeat in battle at Culloden Moor in 1746, Charles Edward Stuart fled into permanent exile.

Glassware and ceramics decorated with Jacobite portraits and imagery were produced in considerable numbers, especially after 1745, demonstrating continued loyalty to the Jacobite cause.

This tin-glazed earthenware punch bowl was probably made in Liverpool. There were several small pottery factories operating in Liverpool, supplying tin-glaze enamelled wares, principally to Britain's colonies. One speciality was the large punch bowl, often painted with ships and mottoes reflecting current political or social events. Several items of Chinese porcelain produced for the export market were painted with portraits of Bonnie Prince Charlie and soldiers from the Highland regiment.

D.S. Howard, A tale of three cities, exh. cat. (London, Sotheby's, 1997)

Louis L. Lipsky and M. Archer, Dated English Delftware (London, 1984)