The sunken centre with a landscape, comprising a copse on a hillock with figures and cattle; the sparsely wooded undulating countryside with a building in the distance on the right.
The border is decorated with four putti supporting floral swags between a shell ornament on the upper rim and a winged putto mask on the lower edge, 23cm.
Brownlow, 9th Earl of Exeter (1725-1793), who travelled to Italy on two occasions, was very much drawn to the subject matter and colours of Italian majolica and purchased a considerable number of pieces.
On the reverse of the frame surrounding this dish he wrote, in his very distinctive hand: ‘Bought in Naples, 1763.’
The 1763 Burghley Inventory records: ‘the bed chamber, 2’d George Room…….2 Old painted Dishes in Black Frames.’ See CER0710.
