A fine Chelsea dish circa 1750-52

Octagonal, painted in Kakiemon style with the 'Hob in the Well' pattern with a boy in a large jar, a figure grasping his hand to pull him out, another figure nearby preparing to throw a stone to break the jar and free his friend, in a garden with trees and foliage and small blue birds in flight, with a formal border of tightly packed scrolling foliage picked out in gold, 20.2cm wide - Sold for £8,000 plus Premium and tax

Provenance: Exhibited at The International Ceramics Fair and Seminar Loan Exhibition 1999. For other examples see F Severne Mackenna (1951), pl 9, fig 17, John Austin (1977), p 65, fig 47, and Elizabeth Adams (2001), p 74, fig 7.2. The name 'Hob in the Well' was given to this pattern when Chelsea first produced it, Christie's sale of March 1755 included lot 77, 'Twelve octagon soup plates Hob in the Well'. It probably took its name from a popular farce of the period 'Flora, or Hob in the Well' a later version of Thomas Doggett's 'The Country Wake' published in 1696.

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Bonhams. The Barbara Leake Collection, 12 Mar 2008. New Bond Street