Royal Crown Derby Miniature
Mid-20th Century French Porcelain
Porcelain
Antique Mid-19th Century English Chinoiserie Tea Sets
Porcelain
Antique 1820s English Regency Porcelain
Gold
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Antique Late 18th Century German Baroque Porcelain
Meissen
Antique Late 19th Century French Late Victorian Tea Sets
Porcelain
Antique Late 19th Century Northern Irish Victorian Tea Sets
Porcelain
Antique 19th Century German Rococo Porcelain
Porcelain
Mid-20th Century Italian Classical Roman Ashtrays
Porcelain
Early 20th Century Japanese Showa Paintings and Screens
Gold Leaf
Antique 1770s English Rococo Porcelain
Porcelain
Antique Late 17th Century Japanese Edo Paintings and Screens
Gold Leaf
Antique 19th Century German Porcelain
Porcelain
Antique 1820s English Regency Porcelain
Porcelain
Antique 19th Century English Victorian Platters and Serveware
Pottery
Antique 19th Century French Figurative Sculptures
Bronze
Early 20th Century French Glass
Antique 19th Century English Porcelain
Porcelain
Vintage 1930s English Dinner Plates
Paste, Porcelain
Antique Early 19th Century Japanese Edo Paintings and Screens
Gold Leaf
Recent Sales
Vintage 1920s English Victorian Porcelain
Porcelain
Vintage 1920s English Victorian Porcelain
Porcelain
Vintage 1920s English Victorian Porcelain
Porcelain
Antique 19th Century English Regency Tea Sets
Porcelain
Antique 1890s English Victorian Porcelain
Porcelain
Vintage 1910s English Arts and Crafts Porcelain
Ceramic
Early 20th Century English Boxes
Porcelain
Finding the Right porcelain for You
Today you’re likely to bring out your antique and vintage porcelain in order to dress up your dining table for a special meal.
Porcelain, a durable and nonporous kind of pottery made from clay and stone, was first made in China and spread across the world owing to the trade routes to the Far East established by Dutch and Portuguese merchants. Given its origin, English speakers called porcelain “fine china,” an expression you still might hear today. "Fine" indeed — for over a thousand years, it has been a highly sought-after material.
Meissen Porcelain, one of the first factories to create real porcelain outside Asia, popularized figurine centerpieces during the 18th century in Germany, while works by Capodimonte, a porcelain factory in Italy, are synonymous with flowers and notoriously hard to come by. Modern porcelain houses such as Maison Fragile of Limoges, France — long a hub of private porcelain manufacturing — keep the city’s long tradition alive while collaborating with venturesome contemporary artists such as illustrator Jean-Michel Tixier.
Porcelain is not totally clumsy-guest-proof, but it is surprisingly durable and easy to clean. Its low permeability and hardness have rendered porcelain wares a staple in kitchens and dining rooms as well as a common material for bathroom sinks and dental veneers. While it is tempting to store your porcelain behind closed glass cabinet doors and reserve it only for display, your porcelain dinner plates and serving platters can safely weather the “dangers” of the dining room and be used during meals.
Add different textures and colors to your table with dinner plates and pitchers of ceramic and silver or a porcelain lidded tureen, a serving dish with side handles that is often used for soups. Although porcelain and ceramic are both made in a kiln, porcelain is made with more refined clay and is stronger than ceramic because it is denser.
On 1stDibs, browse an expansive collection of antique and vintage porcelain made in a variety of styles, including Regency, Scandinavian modern and other examples produced during the mid-century era, plus Rococo, which found its inspiration in nature and saw potters crafting animal figurines and integrating organic motifs such as floral patterns in their work.