'Miss Pitt' Salt-glazed Punch Bowl

This delicate white salt-glazed bowl painted with landscapes was made in Yorkshire and painted in Leeds during the 1770s. The landscape on the exterior of the bowl shows a man and a woman seated either side of a pedestal table drinking punch and can be compared with a well known Leeds design often referred to as 'Miss Pitt' that occurs on both creamware and salt-glazed stone ware of the period. The bowl is painted on the inside with farm buildings surrounded by trees and clouds and a green diaper pattern runs around in the rim.

Pottery was one of the most important industries in Leeds during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The main works were established in Hunslet, south of the city centre in 1770 and soon after became highly successful in manufacturing a white-bodied lead-glazed earthenware called creamware, or Queen's ware, produced in enormous quantities for a world-wide market. The appearance of the Leeds design 'Miss Pitt' on this salt-glazed piece establishes convicingly that enamelling on salt-glaze was carried out in the city at the time.

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