Casgliadau Arlein

Rectangular dessert dish, soft-paste porcelain, 'duck egg' type with a slight greenish translucency, and almost colourless glaze, shrinking back at foot, and somewhat pitted; standing on a narrow rectangular foot rim, shallow sides spreading to a shaped rim with indented corners, twig handles with foliate terminals; the centre painted within an oval gilt band with a Levantine harbour scene by moonlight, comprising twin columns to left, a fishing boat at the foreshore from which two men are removing a net with the aid of the two boatmen, one of whom wears a fez, a ship entering harbour behind, a headland terminating in a tower or lighthouse to right, shipping in the distance below a cloudy sky; elaborate gilt border belond a baluster line, comprising alternating scrolled panels of oeil de perdrix, lattice, and seeding, the handles gilt with the terminals veined in gold.