Antique English Pottery Variegated Surface Bough Pots,
Circa 1780-1800

The pair of English pottery with variegated surface (sometimes called pebbled or encrusted) bough pots have fixed pierced top with a blue band around the upper rim. The finish was created by applying small chips of crushed clay. These were designed to be a pair facing outward on a mantle or back to back on a table.

Reference: Mocha and Related dipped wares, 1770-1939, Jonathan Rickard, page 119, #figure 184 for a single bough pot with very similar shape and decoration. It is marked with the impressed letters BW possibly for Birch & Whitehead of Shelton (circa 1796) or Breeze & Wilson of Hanley, Circa 1800-1817.

A single example is to be found in the Victoria & Albert Museum's Ceramics Collection.