Jasper sweetmeat basket, about 1790 Many of the 'ornamental'
wares had uses also, including this single vase (see below) and
sweetmeat basket. The three-colour vase has a pierced cover and
a solid cover below it, both of them removable. It could be used
for pot pourri, with the solid cover left in place when it was
not required to scent the room. Containers for pot pourri and
burners for scented pastilles were both popular products,
presumably because standards of personal hygiene were not high.
The vase is of three-colour jasper, which may have been
introduced about 1786. The basket has piercings made
painstakingly by hand through the solid blue jasper. It is one
of a pair in the collection. Baskets were often used in fours,
piled high with fruit or confectionary, in the symmetrical
setting of the table for dessert. It was the custom to use more
fanciful and decorative tableware for dessert than for the main
courses. This pair of black and white jasper pots are for plants
and have removable pierced grates. T