A Caughley egg drainer transfer-printed with the Pleasure Boat or Fisherman pattern, circa 1780-90, with leaf shaped handle, unmarked, bowl 8.3cm diameter (cracked) Provenance: Wright Collection no.849, purchased from Horton in 2010. Contemporary porcelain factory documents call objects like these 'egg drainers' when they have a small side handle. They were often included in breakfast sets and one suggestion is that they were possibly used to serve poached eggs. An article by Richard Halliday, 'Pickle Dishes and Milseys', written for the Northern Ceramic Society investigated further the use for these 'drainers'. The word 'milsey' comes from two middle English words 'mylke syhe' which today mean 'milk sieve', which today has been applied to pottery and porcelain strainers which may or may not have been used to sieve hot milk. Halliday found that realistically when used for draining eggs they proved to be neither practical nor necessarily functional, nor upon investigation were they appropriate for draining tea. One conclusion Halliday drew is that they were perhaps used to strain boiled milk which was necessary to prevent it tasting somewhat sour in the pre-refrigeration days. Indeed, Nelson's breakfast set supplied by Chamberlain's, Worcester in 1802 contained 'six egg cups and drainers.'