Thank you for you kind introductions as well as your help thus far. I am a complete newbie to the antique market as it relates to my genealogy work. Please forgive my lack of information as I was not completely sure what was needed in order you to make a recommendation. I will check out all of your suggestions - they seem very good and was what I was looking for. In the meantime, let me try to give all the information I know.
One thing I noticed from what you have listed for me, is the relationship this antique has to England and Ireland. Since my ancestor is from Scotland it makes it all that much more difficult, because it was there that he either bought it new or had it handed down to him from his father. Here are the facts:
It's probably not older than 1722/23. Apparently, this pitcher had a tradition where the father would hand it down to the first born son - that makes me think it wasn't used. And, why the father since it was a dish, why not the mother? I have at least three generations of this happening in the states. From 1730-1820 (Aprox.) It was purchased in Scotland between 1723-1726 (this is why we are interested, we have no clue where John was from and we figure getting information about this antique will help us narrow down the search). It has the aforementioned verse. We believe it was porcelain. We are assuming it was crafted in Scotland, but cannot be sure since we are not sure how importing worked back then with such hostilities in the UK. This is all the information we have at this point.
I hope this helps.
Thanks again for the suggestions. I will update you if I find anything.
Eric