Pair of Italian Faience Covered Vases of Baluster Form with Charming Scenes

A rustic Italian faience vase molded in relief from the 19th century. The body of flattened circular form is topped by a tall cylindrical neck with a flaring rim flanked by rope-like handles. Molded in relief overall, each side is decorated with the figure of a bird in a stylized wreath amid fruits, nuts and grape vines. Resting on a flared circular foot with incised geometrical patterns echoed on the neck and rim, the vase is covered overall with brown and green splashes on an ochre ground. The rustic style of this Italian faience vase, with its rope-like decoration and particular shape echoing traditional wine flasks...

A Chinese four-legged barrel-form brass urn cast and engraved with archaistic decoration from the 20th century. The gently rounded sides are cast with the dispersed elements of two taotie masks, Archaistic auspicious beasts formed by a pair of stylized and confronted dragons which constitutes the features of this mythical creature, abstractly rendered in low-relief hooked curls. Two bands of kui or passing dragons flank the taotie ornamentation on the belly, all upon an engraved and very finely delineated white leiwen ground symbolizing thunder. Raised on four atlantes with a few anatomical engraved details, the urn possesses a flat circular lid decorated with stylized birds and topped with a phoenix-shaped knob with a ring, a propitious symbol in Chinese art. The white engraved ground nicely contrasting with the dark patina along with the Archaistic traditional low relief decoration echoes Chinese archaic ritual bronzes used in ceremonies or buried in the tombs of the elites for use in the afterlife. This Chinese barrel...

A charming pair of faience covered jars featuring snake handles, village buildings and figural faces on the sides.

Large pair of Sèvres vases in Bleu Celeste of baluster form with courting scenes in a Garden painted on the fronts and a forest scene painted on ...