Mustard Pot & Spoon

This is a mustard pot made by Loosdrecht in about 1780. Oude Loosdrecht was founded by Johannes de Mol in 1771 with what was left of the Weesp factory and was closed in 1784 when he died. The mustard pot is a small pear-shaped beauty with some unexpected surprises. It has a superb large floral arrangement on one side exquisitely painted with great detail. On the opposite side is a unique and delightful handle that is, in the style of Meissen, modeled as a tree branch with knots that are outlined in blue with gold centers. There are seven more small and medium floral sprays on the pot and some blue festoons along the top edge. The matching lid holds a 2nd unexpected surprise, a delicate, twisted-branch handle with 2 applied leaves at each end, again in the style of Meissen. The lid has a nice scalloped edge and there are 5 floral sprays and blue festoons that match with flowers on the pot. Both the pot and lid have a cutout for the spoon. There’s gold trim around the bottom and top edges of the pot and around the scalloped edge of the lid - also gold detail on the handles on both pot and lid. The 3rd unexpected surprise is the matching spoon that’s almost always missing. The bowl part is painted with four floral sprays on the outside and four floral sprigs and blue festoons along the inside edge. The handle is beautifully shaped and has a finely detailed leaf-like end. The spoon has gold trim along the edge of the bowl and on the handle. On the underside of the bowl part there is a rough portion of glaze over a flower where the bowl would have set during firing and a tiny rough spot on the underside of the handle where that would have rested. This is normal and is always the case in firing these early utensils. The pot bottom is marked with underglaze blue MOL over a star, and incised with script L48. Condition is superb with one very small, shallow nip on the inside lip of the pot which is very likely from the making. Size of pot is 3” tall without the lid and 4” with lid. Spoon is 4” long. Diameter is about 2.75 inches. Please email me for more information or other pictures.