Lot 176
£1,625
Auction: 20 November 2019 from 10:00 GMT
each piece painted with a gilt and polychrome crest with the motto LABOR IPSE VOLUPTAS, within coloured Greek key borders, with retailers marks MORTLOCK/ 18 REGENT ST., comprising eight teacups, 6cm high; eight saucers, 13.5cm diameter; and eight plates
Provenance: The estate of the late 5th Earl of Lovelace
Note: Mortlock was a merchandising rather than a manufacturing operation. It has been described as arguably the most important china retailer in London in the early nineteenth century. It exercised enormous power and influence over the manufacturers, particularly including Coalport, insisting that the products that Mortlocks sold should bear the Mortlock mark rather than that of the original maker.
By 1803, Mortlock was claiming to supply "Her Majesty [Queen Charlotte] and the Royal Family" with "Coalbrook Dale [Coalport] porcelain". In the late 1830s Mortlock provided Coalport pieces for Queen Victoria.
The arms show Lovelace with Byron/Noel/Wentworth/Lovelace in pretence, with earl's coronet above, indicating a date after 1838.