Pair of Lidded Cast Limestone Greek Key Urns from Southern Italy

This stunning lidded urn might have once been found in a 19th century Italian apothecary. The front of the shaped urn body has the hand-painted phrase “C. Violaru”, which is the heavily abbreviated form of the Latin word for violet (violaceum). Up until the mid-1700’s, apothecaries would make syrups from violets and use it to treat kidney ailments. Above the Latin wording is a whimsical musical scene with a man blowing a horn leading a couple who is holding hands over rocky terrain lined with shrubbery. A large house and trees can be seen behind the trio with a pair of mountains in the distance. On the opposite side of the urn is a floral display with a bird perched on a rock. Beneath the bird is a geometric design, possibly a stylized sun with radiating beams of light. Both scenes are segmented by a pair of thin quarter round moldings that encircle the entire vase. Other hand-painted motifs include floral and foliate margents, geometric patterns, and Vitruvian waves that are infilled with horizontal fluting. The sides of the urn have a fish-scale background beneath two mustachioed mascarons. Both men have been styled in grotesque fashion, with a pair of spiraled horns emanating from their heads. In between the horns is a looping handle that is affixed to the body in similar tight spirals. The domed lid has three scrolled arms that merge in a geometric finial. The base color of the urn is white, with illustrations in a monochromatic cobalt oxide blue, reminiscent of Delft blue pottery...

Hand-carved in six pieces of limestone in Southern Italy, this fireplace mantel is in the style of Louis XVI. The deep fluting of the legs, with partial infills (known as cabling or ...

Originally from France, this pair of cast iron vases would make wonderful planters for either inside or outdoors. The vases, which date to the 1800s, have been painted white; however...

During the 17th through 19th centuries, highly skilled artisans in Savona, Italy, produced beautiful tin-glazed earthenware known as maiolica (majolica). These blue and white lidded vases with serpentine handles, from circa 1800, are such an example. Early Savona offerings were painted cobalt blue on a white background, as seen on these vases. Because the scenes depicted on the main bodies are distinct, they are considered a near pair, although their dimensions do not vary. Both illustrations contain country houses surrounded by tall trees and fronted by vegetation emerging from rocky terrain. In each scene, people can be seen in front of the houses, with one having two citizens and the other having four. One of the renderings is bordered by roundels at the top and by a leafy vine at the bottom; the other vase does not have any surrounding motifs. The sides opposite the pastoral images are distinct as well: the one with the borders has curled vines surrounding the Savona Lighthouse (a production mark of studios from this region), while the other vase has the lighthouse above a pair of small foliate margents. Both vases have domed, removable lids with a conical finial emerging from a painted sunburst. Curled leaves have been painted along the circumference above a solid blue ring. The two curvaceous handles are each comprised of a pair of snakes bound with a ribbon. Our blue and white lidded Savona vases...

A Vintage Urn with lid in a Beige Limestone, Greece from around 1960, great patina and color of the stone, very decorative and powerful object

Italian Silver Neoclassical Lidded Urn. Italian neoclassical sterling silver urn form zucchiera. Handles with foliate terminals and lid with a...

A 19th century Southern Chinese handmade and painted ceramic oval bathtub with Greek key frieze, birds and foliage motifs. Born possibly in the southern p...

A striking pair of Italian 19th century Neo-Classical st. granite lidded urns. Each urn is raised by a circular mottled base and socle pedestal. The body displays an elegant shape an...