Devil Dog! 19th C. Hand-painted Delft Tile large egg basket to start a small mochware

to start a small mochware collection featuring only the most unusual

and really quite a special thing I think

and also problematic

from a historic home and museum in Newburyport

I found a note inside of this vessel which identifies is Mayan pre-Columbian from Belize and I know it came from the estate of a pre-Columbian pottery collector

Devil Dog! 19th C. Hand-painted Delft Tile large egg basket to start a small mochwareI purchased this one from a Dutch dealer who maintains an outpost at a New Hampshire antiques store that I frequent, and so, not surprisingly, knows his Delft pottery. (One finds older tiles, as well as newer ones, in this manner, but this one I have on good authority is 19th c). For me of course it's all about this creature, looking very much like a dog with devil horns! One often sees bounding rabbits on these Delft tiles, which perhaps this was