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A stoneware ginger beer bottle,…
Sale Title:
Auction House:
Auction Location:
Melbourne
Date:
24-Mar-2024
Lot No.
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Description:
A stoneware ginger beer bottle, made in Sydney by Jonathan Leak at his Brickfield hill pottery in the 1820s. It is a rare example of the earliest surviving marked pottery made in Australia, impressed stamp 'Leak' to shoulder, 18 cm high. At the age of 42, on 11th March 1819, Jonathan Leak was tried in the County of Stafford, England, and convicted of burglary. His death sentence was commuted to transportation for life and he arrived in Australia in December of that year, on board the brig 'Recovery', with another convicted potter, John Moreton. The Governor put Leak and Moreton to work at a clay site on Brickfield hill, in Sydney. In December 1821 Leak was permitted to start work for himself. Leaving the Government Pottery under the control of Moreton, Leak established his own business on a piece of land off Elizabeth Street, near the Brickfields. By September 1822, because of his good conduct and diligent application to his work, Leak was granted his ticket-of-leave and assigned to himself. His wife and their four children had been able to join him in September of that year. [See 'Australian Pottery : the first 100 Years' by Geoff Ford [Salt glaze press, Wodonga, 1995].
Estimate:
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Price:
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Category:
Ceramics: Australian Themes & Other Makers