#royal oak

Slip ware dish commemorating Charles II famous escape from the Roundheads in 1651
By William Talor 1680-85

Estimated to be worth £45,000-60,000, it depicts the moment in the English Civil War when the 21 year old Charles II hid in a huge oak tree in Boscobel House, Shropshire to escape the attentions of marauding Roundheads. He had been soundly beaten the day before at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651 by Cromwell’s New Model Army and remained perched in the tree for several hours until the danger passed. With the Civil War effectively over, Charles gave up the struggle to regain the throne and escaped to mainland Europe where he lived until the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660.

The tale of the Royal Oak gripped the public imagination and Pepys recorded in his diary that the King has related it to him personally. The dish was made by William Talor in the early 1680s and is only one of four dishes by the potter on this theme to have survived.