Casgliadau Arlein

Sweetmeat basket and cover, soft-paste porcelain, circular in shape, the base has a flattened foot rim, the body with concave sides leading to a slightly flaring, scalloped and pierced rim, a plain basket-type handle is attached to the body with moulded acanthus leaves masking the joins, the circular cover is pierced and has a bell-shaped knop; a composition of horizontally oriented, intertwined flowers and foliage is painted underglaze around the body of the basket, it includes herb robert, forget-me-nots, daffodil, bluebells and buttercups; the handle is decorated in gilt at its centre point with a large oval surrounded by small dots, with a large dot at each side, the sides of the handle are decorated with a series of stylised leaves alternated with dots of varying size and number, this series of motifs ending in a group of six dots that are progressively smaller in size; the top edge of the rim has a gilt band, beneath the rim and at the foot are bands of moulded beading between two bands of gilt, the knop is gilt and the pierced holes on the cover have gilt borders.