Dark blue faïence decorated with white or coloured enamels was made at Nevers in France from the mid-seventeenth to early eighteenth centuries. London potters probably acquired the technique from Nevers, although they may also have been influenced by Japanese porcelain with blue glaze which was imported by the Dutch from the 1660s. Sherds of blue delftware have been found on the site of the Norfolk House pottery in Lambeth, but it may have been made elsewhere in London and at Brislington, near Bristol. The decoration, always in white, comprises floral patterns, random splodges and Oriental landscapes with figures. These Oriental designs, featuring brush-like trees and shrubs, were probably derived from Japanese blue and white porcelain in Chinese Transitional style.

This water cistern or wine cooler is a notable example of a ceramic vessel whose shape derives from metalwork (see also nos. 28 and 29). Its swelling oval form, with lion's mask and ring handles at each end, imitates the massive silver cisterns which were in fashion in the 1670s and 1680s. The few surviving blue delft cisterns are much smaller and can only just accommodate one of the bulbous glass bottles made in the late seventeenth century. Analogous Oriental decoration occurs on a monteith in the City Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent(42iP 1935). Monteiths were circular or oval bowls with notched rims, from which wine glasses were suspended by their feet to cool in cold water or ice.