18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Period: 18th Century and Earlier
Color: Beige
Chinese Porcelain Plate with Dragon Decoration "Famille Verte" 18th Century
Located in Beuzevillette, FR
Very beautiful porcelain plate of the green family with dragon decoration in the 18th century. The decoration is finely executed by hand, we see a green and golden dragon, with friez...
Category
Chinese Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Ceramic
Rare Meissen Marcolini Porcelain Chinoiserie Incense Burner Vase and Cover
Located in New York, NY
A rare Meissen Marcolini Porcelain Chinoiserie incense burner vase and cover, made for the Chinese market, circa 1800, blue cross swords and star mark, Pressnummer 58
A Museum Quality Piece.
Painted in the sought after famille rose palette with sprigs of indianische Blumen and enriched in gilding, the simulated pierced body supported by four feet painted with stylized dragons, the pierced cover with a Buddhist lion finial.
10" high x 6" wide x 6" deep
The shape of this piece, which appears to be unrecorded in the literature, is inspired by similar Chinese porcelain censers from the Qing Dynasty, Kangxi Period (1654-1722). An example in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated by Li Yi-hua in Qing Porcelain of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Periods from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, pl. 65. Another in the British Museum, London (museum no. PDF, A.812) is catalogued as a perfume-holder.
These porcelain examples are in turn inspired by ancient Chinese bronzes from both the Shang (1600-1046 BC) and the Zhou (1046-246 BCE) dynasties, an example of which was sold anonymously by Christie's New York, 22 March 2019, lot 1601. This chain of inspiration tracking backwards from the 19th century to antiquity provides a clear example of how ceramics, and indeed other mediums, are able to influence and motivate the works of later generations.
For a Meissen porcelain snuff...
Category
German Chinoiserie Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Porcelain
Delft Polychrome majolica dish with a village view The Netherlands, 1700-1750
By Delft
Located in ROSSUM, GE
Polychrome dish with a village view. The Netherlands, 1700-1750
The dish has a spreading, slightly raised rim and is painted in blue, purple, yellow and green with a simplified vil...
Category
Dutch Baroque Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Ceramic, Majolica
Ancient Italian Coffee Pot, Coppellotti Manufacture, Lodi, Circa 1740
By Antonio Maria Coppellotti
Located in Milano, IT
Coffee pot
Antonio Maria Coppellotti Manufacture
Lodi, Circa 1740
High fire polychrome maiolica
It measures: 7.87 in x 6,49 x 5.11 (20 cm x 16,5 x 13); weight 1.23 lb (561 g)
...
Category
Italian Rococo Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Maiolica
Set Four Dutch Manganese Biblical Pottery Tiles, 18th Century
Located in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire
A wonderful set of four antique Dutch ‘Delft’ style manganese tiles hand decorated with biblical scenes probably originating from Rotterdam and dating f...
Category
Dutch Arts and Crafts Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Ceramic
Ancient Italian Maiolica Tureen, Rubati Manufacture, Milan, circa 1770-1780
Located in Milano, IT
Maiolica tureen
Pasquale Rubati Manufacture
Milan, circa 1770 - 1780
Maiolica polychrome decorated “a piccolo fuoco” (third fire).
It measures 6.69 in x 11,02 x 8.26 (17 x 28 x ...
Category
Italian Rococo Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Maiolica
Pair of Chinese Plate India Compagny 18th Century
Located in Beuzevillette, FR
Pair of Chinese plates with floral motifs from the Compagnie des Indes dating from the 18th century. It is decorated in the centre with a flower...
Category
Chinese Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Porcelain
Circa 1780 Chinese "Elephant & Mahout" Vegetable Dish
Located in Chapel Hill, NC
Circa 1780 Chinese export "elephant & mahout" oval vegetable dish. Qing dynasty, Qianlong period. Retailed by Sarah potter conover, early label. One of ...
Category
Chinese Qing Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Ceramic
Ancient Italian Assortment Coffe Pot and Cups, Lodi, Circa 1765-1770
Located in Milano, IT
A coffee pot and two cups with saucers
Antonio Ferretti Manufacture
Lodi, Circa 1765-1770
Maiolica polychrome decorated “a piccolo fuoco” (third fire).
They measure:
coffee pot: 9....
Category
Italian Rococo Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Maiolica
Italian Renaissance Plate, Patanazzi Workshop Urbino, End of 16th Century
Located in Milano, IT
Acquareccia plate
Patanazzi workshop
Urbino, last quarter of the 16th century
It measures diameter 17.12 in; foot diameter 11.53 in; height 1.88 in (43.5 cm; 29.3 cm; 4.8 cm).
Weight
State of conservation: wear and a few small minimal detachments of enamel, chipping on the raised areas, peeling of enamel at the brim on the back.
This large, shallow basin is equipped with a wide and convex well. It is umbonate with a contoured center. The brim, short and flat, is enclosed in a double rounded and barely raised edge. The basin has a flat base without rims; it has a slightly concave center in correspondence to the well.
The shape takes inspiration from the basins associated with the metal forged amphora pourers that traditionally adorned the credenza. These were used from the Middle Ages to wash hands during banquets. Two or three people washed their hands in the same basin and it was considered an honor to wash one’s hands with an illustrious person.
The decoration is arranged in concentric bands with, in the center of the umbo, an unidentified shield on a blue background: an oval banded in gold with a blue head, a gold star and a field with a burning pitcher.
Rings of faux pods separate the center from a series of grotesque motifs of small birds and masks. These go around the basin and are, in fact, faithfully repeated on the brim. The main decoration develops inside the flounce of the basin, which sees alternating symmetrical figures of winged harpies and chimeras. The ornamentation, outlined in orange, green and blue, stands out against the white enamel background.
This decorative style, defined since the Renaissance as “grottesche” or “raffaellesche”, refers to the decorations introduced after the discovery of the paintings of the Domus Aurea towards the end of the fifteenth century. The discovery of Nero's palace, buried inside Colle Oppio by damnatio memoriae, occurred by chance when a young Roman, in 1480, fell into a large crack which had opened in the ground on the hill, thus finding himself in a cave with walls covered with painted figures.
The great artists present in the papal city, including Pinturicchio, Ghirlandaio, Raffaello, immediately visited these caves. The decorations found there soon became a decorative subject of immense success: the term grotesque , with the meaning of “unusual,” “caricatured,” or “monstrous,” was later commented by Vasari in 1550 as “una spezie di pittura licenziose e ridicole molto”( “a very licentious and ridiculous kind of painting”).
The decorations “a grottesche” also widely circulated in ceramic factories, through the use of engravings, variously interpreted according to the creativity of the artists or the requests of the client.
Our basin is reflected in similar artifacts produced at the end of the sixteenth century by the factories of the Urbino district. See the series of basins preserved in the main French museums, among which the closest in morphology is that of the Campana collection of the Louvre (Inv. OA1496); this however has a more complex figure decoration, while the decoration of our specimen is sober and with a watercolor style.
The style, sure in its execution, approaches decorative results still close to the works produced around the middle of the sixteenth century by the Fontana workshop. The decoration is closely linked to their taste, which later finds its natural outlet, through the work of Antonio, also in the Patanazzi workshop. Studies show the contiguity between the two workshops due to the kinship and collaboration between the masters Orazio Fontana and Antonio Patanazzi, both trained in the workshop of Guido Fontana il Durantino. It is therefore almost natural that their works, often created according to similar typologies and under the aegis of the same commissions, are not always easily distinguishable, so much so that the presence of historiated or “grottesche” works by Orazio is documented and preserved in Antonio Patanazzi's workshop. Given that the studies have always emphasized the collaboration between several hands in the context of the shops, it is known that the most ancient “grottesche” works thus far known, can be dated from 1560, when the Fontana shop created the so-called Servizio Spagnolo (Spanish Service) and how, from that moment on, this ornamentation became one of the most requested by high-ranking clients. We remember the works created for the Granduchi di Toscana, when Flaminio Fontana along with his uncle Orazio supplied ceramics to Florence, and, later, other commissions of considerable importance: those for the service of the Duchi d’Este or for the Messina Farmacia of Roccavaldina, associated with the Patanazzi workshop when, now after 1580, Antonio Patanazzi began to sign his own work.
Thus, in our basin, the presence of masks hanging from garlands, a theme of more ancient memory, is associated in the work with more advanced stylistic motifs, such as the hatching of the chimeras and harpies. These are found here on the front with the wings painted in two ornate ways. In addition, the theme of the birds on the edge completes the decoration along the thin brim and can be seen as representing an early style typical of the Urbino district during a period of activity and collaboration between the two workshops. Later, a more “doll-like” decorative choice, typical of the end of the century and the beginning of the seventeenth century, characterized the period of the Patanazzi workshop under the direction of Francesco.
Bibliography:
Philippe Morel, Il funzionamento simbolico e la critica delle grottesche nella seconda metà del Cinquecento, in: Marcello Fagiolo, (a cura di), Roma e...
Category
Italian Renaissance Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Maiolica
Early Wedgwood Neoclassical Creamware Dessert Dishes Made circa 1780
By Wedgwood
Located in Fort Lauderdale, FL
A set of four early Wedgwood creamware Neoclassical dessert dishes made circa 1780.
Sir William Hamilton’s Collection of Etruscan, Greek and Roman an...
Category
English Neoclassical Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Creamware
Small Maiolica Flower Pots, Ferretti Manufacture, Lodi, circa 1770-1780
Located in Milano, IT
Two maiolica flower pots
Antonio Ferretti Manufacture
Lodi, Circa 1770 - 1780
Maiolica polychrome decorated “a piccolo fuoco” (third fire)
The...
Category
Italian Rococo Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Maiolica
Italian Maiolica Cup Ferretti Lodi, circa 1770 - 1780
Located in Milano, IT
Maiolica puerperal cup
Antonio Ferretti Manufacture
Lodi, Circa 1770 - 1780
Maiolica polychrome decorated “a piccolo fuoco” (third fire).
It measures: 4.3 x 6.8 x 5.3 in (11 x 17,5 x 13,5 cm)
Weight: 0.78 lb (358 g)
State of conservation: some closed pass-through fêlures on the cup, barely visible on the outside. Some use chips on the edge of the lid, two of which are more marked.
From about the mid-sixteenth century, the puerperal soup tureen or puerperal cup became one of the most popular wedding gifts in central Italy. As an auspicious symbol, it replaced the birth table (“desco da parto”) which, on the occasion of high-ranking marriages, from the thirteenth century, had been painted by famous artists, especially in Tuscany.
In France this same tureen is called "écuelle de mariée", as it is given to spouses as a sign of fertility.
During the eighteenth century this custom spread even outside Italy to all social levels. Depending on availability and rank, it was made of different materials: precious metals, maiolica, porcelain, glass, pewter, etc.
Beginning in the mid-twentieth century, the custom of this symbolic homage gradually disappeared, although famous designers such as Gio Ponti and Giuseppe Gariboldi, even as recently as the 1940s, revisited a model of a small puerperal soup bowl for the Ginori and, also in Italy in 1940, in a national competition for young potters, one of the themes of the test was indeed a modern model of a puerperal cup as an auspicious gift.
This particular cup was also called a "service cup" or "puerperal vase" or "stuffed cup" - the windows were sealed with straw to prevent drafts of air for women in labor.
In the eighteenth century the line of the puerpera cup was simplified, so much so that it took the form of a small tureen with two handles - the typical broth cup...
Category
Italian Rococo Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Maiolica
Italian Maiolica Ancient Sugar Bowl, Lodi, 1770-1780
Located in Milano, IT
Maiolica sugar bowl
Antonio Ferretti Manufacture
Lodi, Circa 1770-1780
Maiolica polychrome decorated “a piccolo fuoco” (third fire).
It measures 3.54 x 4.52 x 3.54 in (9 x 11,5 x 9 cm)
Weight: 0.394 lb (0.179 kg)
State of conservation: small and slight chips on the edges.
The small sugar bowl has a swollen and ribbed body resting on a flat base. The cap-shaped lid follows the rib of the container and is topped with a small knob in the shape of a two-colored fruit.
The sugar bowl is painted “a piccolo fuoco” (third fire) with the characteristic floral motif of bunches and isolated semis.
An example which closely corresponds to this one is kept at the Civic Museum in Lodi (G. Gregorietti, Maioliche di Lodi, Milano e Pavia, Catalogo della Mostra, Milano, 1964 n. 137).
This decorative style represented a strong point of the Lodi factory, which established itself thanks to the vivid nature of the colors made possible by the introduction of a new technique perfected by Paul Hannong in Strasbourg and later introduced by Antonio Ferretti to Italy. The production process, called “piccolo fuoco” (third fire), allowed the use of a greater number of colors than in the past; in particular, the purple of Cassius, a red made from gold chloride, was introduced. Its use allowed for many more tones and shades, from pink to purple.
The Ferretti family started their maiolica manufacturing business in Lodi in 1725.
The forefather Simpliciano started the business by purchasing an ancient furnace in 1725 and, indeed, we have evidence of the full activity of the furnaces starting from April of the same year (Novasconi-Ferrari-Corvi, 1964, p. 26 n. 4). Simpliciano started a production of excellence also thanks to the ownership of clay quarries in Stradella, not far from Pavia. The production was so successful that in 1726 a decree of the Turin Chamber came to prohibit the importation of foreign ceramics, especially from Lodi, to protect internal production (G. Lise, La ceramica a Lodi, Lodi 1981, p. 59).
In its initial stages, the manufacture produced maolicas painted with the “a gran fuoco” (double fire) technique, often in turquoise monochrome, with ornamentation derived from compositional modules in vogue in Rouen in France. This was also thanks to the collaboration of painters like Giorgio Giacinto Rossetti, who placed his name on the best specimens next to the initials of the factory.
In 1748 Simpliciano made his will (Gelmini, 1995, p. 30) appointing his son Giuseppe Antonio (known as Antonio) as universal heir. After 1750, when Simpliciano passed away, Antonio was directly involved in the maiolica factory, increasing its fortunes and achieving a reputation on a European level. Particularly important was the aforementioned introduction in 1760 of the innovative “a piccolo fuoco” (third fire) processing, which, expanding the ornamental repertoire with Saxon-inspired floral themes, was able to commercially compete with the German porcelains that had one of its most renowned offerings in the naturalistic Deutsche Blumen. Antonio Ferretti understood and promoted this technique and this decoration, proposing it in a fresher and more corrective version, less linked to botanical tables, both with or without contour lines, as well as in purple or green monochrome. After efforts to introduce more industrial production techniques to the sector succeeded, even the Ferretti manufacture, in the last decade of the eighteenth century, started heading towards decline despite its attempts to adapt production to neoclassical tastes.
In 1796 the Napoleonic battle for the conquest of the Lodi bridge over the Adda definitively compromised the furnaces. Production resumed, albeit in a rather stunted manner, until Antonio's death on 29 December 1810. (M. L. Gelmini, pp. 28-30, 38, 43 sgg., 130-136 (for Simpliciano); pp. 31 sgg., 45-47, 142-192 (for Antonio).
Bibliography
G. Gregorietti, Maioliche di Lodi Milano e Pavia Catalogo della Mostra, Milano, 1964 n. 137;
C. Baroni, Storia delle ceramiche nel Lodigiano, in Archivio storico per la città e i comuni del circondario e della diocesi di Lodi, XXXIV (1915), pp. 118, 124, 142; XXXV (1916), pp. 5-8;
C. Baroni, La maiolica antica di Lodi, in Archivio storico lombardo, LVIII (1931), pp. 453-455;
L. Ciboldi, La maiolica lodigiana, in Archivio storico lodigiano, LXXX (1953), pp. 25 sgg.;
S. Levy, Maioliche settecentesche lombarde e venete, Milano 1962, pp. 17 sgg.;
A. Novasconi - S. Ferrari - S. Corvi, La ceramica lodigiana, Lodi 1964, ad Indicem; Maioliche di Lodi, Milano e Pavia (catal.), Milano 1964, p. 17;
O. Ferrari - G. Scavizzi, Maioliche italiane del Seicento e del Settecento, Milano 1965, pp. 26 sgg.;
G. C. Sciolla, Lodi. Museo civico, Bologna 1977, pp. 69-85 passim; G. Lise, La ceramica a Lodi, Lodi 1981;
M. Vitali, in Storia dell'arte ceramica...
Category
Italian Rococo Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Maiolica
Set of 4 18th Century Chinese Export Imari Porcelain Chargers in 2 Sizes
Located in Atlanta, GA
Set of 4 18th Century Chinese Export Imari Porcelain Chargers in 2 sizes. (smaller pair has some repairs) 15? Diameter / 12.5? Diameter.
Category
Chinese Chinese Export Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Porcelain
18th Century, Italian Maiolica Flower Pot, Pasquale Rubati, Milan, 1770 circa
Located in Milano, IT
Maiolica flower pot “a mezzaluna”
decorated with trompe l’oeil
Pasquale Rubati Factory
Milan, 1770 circa
It measures: 4.7 in (cm 12) X 5 in (...
Category
Italian Rococo Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Maiolica
Pair Antique Japanese Artia Ceramic Cabinet Plates
By Arita
Located in Atlanta, GA
A pair of Japanese decorative ceramic plates, made in Arita for export market circa 17-18th century. The cabinet-display dishes feature lotus-petal gilt rim and a lavish tricolor ene...
Category
Japanese Japonisme Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Ceramic
Small Maiolica Plate, Urbino District, 1533-1555
Located in Milano, IT
Maiolica plate (tondino)
Urbino district, Casteldurante or Pesaro, 1533-1555
It measures: diam. 7.48 in (19 cm), foot diam. 2.75 in (7 cm), height 1.0...
Category
Italian Renaissance Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Maiolica
Antique Chinese Export Porcelain Famille Rose Platter
Located in Bradenton, FL
A large Chinese Export Famille Rose charger with pink lotus and other flowers. Painted in bright vivid colors of blues, reds and yellow accents.
Category
Chinese Chinese Export Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Porcelain
Dutch ceramic Purple and White Plaque with Figures in a Landscape, Utrecht 1760
By Delft
Located in Verviers, BE
Purple and white plaque with figures in a landscape. Utrecht, circa 1760. Mark: Le J
Lozenge-shaped purple and white plaque with a conversing couple in a landscape. In the foreground a man and a women with a bare bosom sit on a river bank, behind them stands a tree leaning to the left. A church tower and some houses are depicted on the other bank and a boat sails on the water. The molded and raised rim is painted with a continuous branch of leaves, the back is glazed white. The woman with bare bosom shows that a pastoral scene is depicted. The man and woman are possibly shepherds, although their characteristic staff and sheep are lacking. Pastoral literature enjoyed considerable popularity in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and themes from it were frequently used for paintings, drawings and prints. The painter must have taken such a print as a model. The Le J signature is probably of the tile painter and has not yet been identified.
Besides the mass production of tiles, the tile factories in Utrecht in the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth centuries also manufactured other items on a small scale such as plaques, tobacco boxes, tea-stoves and shoes. Plaques form the largest part of this incidental production, and can clearly be distinguished stylistically and technically from Delft examples. Stylistically they are related more to tiles from Utrecht. The layered structure of the foreground with rocks and low shrubbery is derived from tiles with landscape, shepherd and biblical decors. The same also applies to the (leaning) tree, a typical Utrecht feature. The spiral cloud motifs are painted on Utrecht tiles as well. There are also important differences in production techniques. Delft plaques...
Category
Dutch Baroque Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Ceramic, Faience
Maiolica Italian Pitcher Ferretti Manufacture, Lodi Circa 1770 - 1780
Located in Milano, IT
Maiolica pitcher
Antonio Ferretti Manufacture
Lodi, circa 1770-1780
Maiolica polychrome decorated “a piccolo fuoco” (third fire).
It measures 8.66 x 8.66 x 4.33 in (22 x 22 x 11 ...
Category
Italian Rococo Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Maiolica
Antique English Late 18th Century Yorkshire or Staffordshire Basket
Located in Charleston, SC
Rare antique English Yorkshire or Staffordshire creamware pierced basket with intricate reticulated body. Lovely color no damage or repairs.
Category
English Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Creamware
Set of 4 French Strasbourg Faience Chargers with Flower Decor
Located in Haddonfield, NJ
Two large French Faience dishes and two smaller from the city of Strasbourg in hand painted floral decoration. They are approximately from around...
Category
French Louis XVI Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Faience
Ancient Maiolica Dishes with flowers, Lombard Manufacture, 1770-1780 Circa
Located in Milano, IT
Assortment of dishes
Lombard manufacture
1770 – 1780 Circa
Maiolica polychrome decorated “a piccolo fuoco” (third fire).
Two large dishes: diameter 14.76 in (37.5 cm); weight 4.5...
Category
Italian Rococo Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Maiolica
Assembled Pair of Wedgwood Cress or Strawberry Dishes, Late 18th C
Located in valatie, NY
An assembled pair of Wedgwood cress or strawberry dishes, Two Piece; Footed Pierced Dish with Stand. Late 18th c. This would have been used to serve watercress or strawberries after ...
Category
English Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Creamware
Two Pairs of Italian Maiolica Baskets, circa 1780
Located in Milano, IT
Two pairs of maiolica baskets
Antonio Ferretti Manufacture
Lodi, circa 1770-1790
Maiolica polychrome decorated “a piccolo fuoco” (third fire).
Measures: A) Height 3.54 x 6.69 x 9.84 in (9 x 17 x 25 cm);
B) Height 3.93 x 7.48 x 11.02 in (10 x 19 x 28 cm).
Total weight 4.85 lb (2.200 kg)
State of conservation:
A) One of the smaller baskets has some areas of restoration, the other slight chipping from use;
B) One of the larger baskets is intact and the other shows a clearly glued break.
The mold with which the baskets were forged simulates a wicker weave.
The two larger works have high, vertical walls, with branch-shaped handles penetrating the weave. The painted decorations, small polychrome flowers applied only externally, highlight the points where the weaves intersect.
The decision to leave the center of the basket devoid of decoration is highly unusual, but given the size and complexity of the shape, as well as the quality of the enamel, it is possible to hypothesize that it represents a precise choice in manufacturing or for a particular client.
The two smaller baskets have small, twisted handles and, on the outside, reproduce more decisively the characteristic wicker weave, obtained through thin molded lines. The interior exhibits a rich, typical decoration of naturalistic flowers: a bunch centered around a main flower and secondary stems accompanied by small “semis”. The exterior of these works is also adorned with small little flowers where the weaves intersect.
The size and morphological characteristics of the baskets confirm their attribution to the Lodi factory of Antonio Ferretti between 1770 and 1790, during its most successful period; by this point his original reworking of the "Strasbourg" decoration, known as "old Lodi", had achieved great fame even outside Italy.
This decorative choice represented a strong point of the Lodi factory, which established itself thanks to the vivid nature of the colors made possible by the introduction of a new technique perfected by Paul Hannong in Strasbourg and which Antonio Ferretti introduced in Italy. This production process, called “piccolo fuoco” (third fire), allowed the use of a greater number of colors than in the past; in particular, the purple of Cassius, a red made from gold chloride, was introduced. Its use allowed for many more tones and shades, from pink to purple.
The Ferretti family had started their maiolica manufacturing business in Lodi in 1725.
The forefather Simpliciano had started the business by purchasing an ancient furnace in 1725 and, indeed, we have evidence of the full activity of the furnaces from April of the same year (Novasconi-Ferrari-Corvi, 1964, p. 26 n. 4). Simpliciano had started a production of excellence also thanks to the ownership of clay quarries in Stradella, not far from Pavia. The production was so successful that in 1726 a decree of the Turin Chamber came to prohibit the importation of foreign ceramics, especially from Lodi, to protect internal production (G. Lise, La ceramica a Lodi, Lodi 1981, p. 59).
In its initial stages, the manufacture produced maolicas painted with the “a gran fuoco” (double fire) technique, often in turquoise monochrome, with ornamentation derived from compositional modules in vogue in Rouen in France. This was also thanks to the collaboration of painters like Giorgio Giacinto Rossetti, who placed his name on the best specimens next to the initials of the factory.
In 1748 Simpliciano made his will (Gelmini, 1995, p. 30) appointing his son Giuseppe Antonio (known as Antonio) as universal heir. After 1750, when Simpliciano passed away, Antonio was directly involved in the maiolica factory, increasing its fortunes and achieving a reputation on a European level. Particularly important was the aforementioned introduction in 1760 of the innovative “a piccolo fuoco” (third fire) processing, which, expanding the ornamental repertoire with Saxon-inspired floral themes, could commercially compete with the German porcelains that had one of its most renowned offerings in the naturalistic Deutsche Blumen. Antonio Ferretti understood and promoted this technique and this decoration, proposing it in a fresher and more corrective version, less linked to botanical tables...
Category
Italian Neoclassical Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Maiolica
French Porcelain Covered Ewer and Bowl, Sevres, circa 1765
Located in New York, NY
Chintz pattern painted with panels of three variant frizes colores, one with variant diaper cartouches entwined with gilt and berried laurel, the second with entwined rose vines rese...
Category
French Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Porcelain
18th Century Italian Maiolica Dish Milano, circa 1770
Located in Milano, IT
Maiolica dish, "Famille Rose" and gold decoration
Felice Clerici factory
Milan, 1770-1780
8.93 in (22.27 cm) in diameter
lb 0.66 (kg 0.3)
State of conservation: perfect, except for ...
Category
Italian Rococo Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Maiolica
18th C Chinese Export Famille Rose Tea Pot, in the French Taste
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
18th C Chinese Export Famille rose tea pot, in the French taste, of typical form the drum shape with twisted strap handles, and straight angled s...
Category
Chinese Chinese Export Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Porcelain
Unusual Antique 1690-1720 Japanese Imari Mustard Pots Arita Edo Japan
Located in Amsterdam, Noord Holland
Gratefull to share these two small mustard pots with you. Ca 1690-1720.
Miniature mustard pot of baluster shape moulded as an opening lotus flower, on a ribbed conical stem. Curve...
Category
Japanese Edo Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Porcelain
# 5 Ko-Kutani Edo Period 17th Century Japanese Porcelain Dish Arita
Located in Amsterdam, Noord Holland
A very nice set of polychrome dishes with green and red overglaze colors. Interesting brown circle in the centre.
Early Edo period.
Condition
No real damages, just crackl...
Category
Japanese Edo Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Porcelain
Ancient Italian Maiolica Faenza, Ferniani Factory, Circa 1700
Located in Milano, IT
Centerpiece white maiolica shell
Ferniani factory, early period: 1693-1776
Faenza, circa 1700
Measures: 5.6 in x 14.72 in x 13.46 in (14.3 cm x 37.4...
Category
Italian Baroque Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Maiolica
Pair of Italian Maiolica Tureens, Ferretti Manufacture, Lodi Circa 1770 - 1780
Located in Milano, IT
Pair of maiolica tureens
Antonio Ferretti Manufacture
Lodi, circa 1770-1780
Maiolica polychrome decorated “a piccolo fuoco” (third fire).
a – 8.66 x 11.02 x 7.48 in (22 x 28 x 19...
Category
Italian Rococo Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Maiolica
Italian Maiolica Ancient Tureen, Lodi, 1770-1780
Located in Milano, IT
Maiolica tureen
Antonio Ferretti Manufacture
Lodi, circa 1770-1780
Maiolica polychrome decorated “a piccolo fuoco” (third fire).
It measures 9.05 x 12.59 x 9.05 in (23 x 32 x 23 cm)
...
Category
Italian Rococo Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Maiolica
Bisque Porcelain Couple in Conversation, French, 19th Century
Located in Lantau, HK
A 19th century French bisque porcelain figurine of a couple seated and engaged in a conversation. The figurine is marked on back and ...
Category
French Classical Roman Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Ceramic
Pair of French Directoire Late 18th Century Lidded Apothecary Jars with Labels
By Deroche
Located in Atlanta, GA
A pair of French Directoire period ceramic lidded apothecary jars from the late 18th century, with hand-painted foliage motifs, labeled Tamarind and Ext. Cicutæ A:F, from the Deroche...
Category
French Directoire Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Ceramic
Ancient Pair of Italian Maiolica Dishes Milano, circa 1770
Located in Milano, IT
Two maiolica dishes, "Famille Rose" decoration
Felice Clerici Factory
Milan, 1770-1780
9.13 in (23.2 cm) each in diameter
lb 1.32 (kg 0.6)
State of conservation: perfect, except for...
Category
Italian Rococo Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Maiolica
Antique 18th Century Wedgwood Creamware Basket Form Double Salt Cellar
By Wedgwood
Located in Philadelphia, PA
An 18th century Wedgwood creamware double salt cellar.
The form consisting of two basket (or pail-form) bowls joined at the rim and connected by ...
Category
British George III Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Creamware
Antique French Creamware Lions 18th Century
Located in Katonah, NY
We are thrilled to offer this exceptional pair of creamware lions, each elegantly resting on a tall base adorned with sumptuous swags of dark blue "curtains" with gleaming yellow tassels and trim.
Crafted in France, these figures are unparalleled and truly a masterpiece of 18th-century creamware.
They date back to the late 18th century, circa 1790. Each lion's head and mane is exquisitely painted with vibrant yellow and lined in striking midnight brown. Their mouths are painted in delicate pink, adding an extra touch of charm.
Not only are these lions a sight to behold, but they will also bring a touch of humor to your home. Their jovial expressions make it impossible not to laugh along with them.
Leisurely resting on cushions draped with rich fabric and tassels, these friendly lions exude a very French attitude, seamlessly blending formality and friendliness.
Placed on a mantel, they would undoubtedly be the focal point of any room, commanding attention, and admiration from all who see them. These lions are genuinely a one-of-a-kind treasure that is not to be missed.
Dimensions: 6.5 inches tall x 6.75 inches long x 4.5 inches wide
Condition: Excellent
Price: $3200
Background of creamware
Creamware is the name given to a type of earthenware pottery initially made from white clays from Dorset and Devonshire combined with an amount of calcined flint.
Creamware was first produced in England sometime before 1740. Foremost of the pioneers of creamware in the Staffordshire Potteries was Thomas Whieldon. The young Josiah Wedgwood partnered with Thomas Whieldon from 1754-1759. When Wedgwood left to set up his own business, he immediately directed his efforts to developing creamware.
Around the same time, in the mid-18th century, French potters developed their creamware known in France as "Faience Fine...
Category
French Neoclassical Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Creamware
Pair of Ancient Italian Maiolica Flower Pots Milan, Rubati Factory, 1770 circa
Located in Milano, IT
Maiolica flower pot “a mezzaluna”
decorated with trompe l’oeil
Pasquale Rubati Factory
Milan, circa 1770
Measures: each 4.7 in (cm 12) x 5 in (c...
Category
Italian Rococo Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Maiolica
Kangxi Famille Verte Porcelain Large Dish, Qing Dynasty, 17th/18th c
Located in Austin, TX
A large and magnificent Chinese famille verte enameled porcelain large dish or charger, Qing Dynasty, Kangxi Period (1662 - 1722), circa 1700, China.
The shallow, shaped dish of fo...
Category
Chinese Qing Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Enamel
Ancient Italian Maiolica Rose Dishes by Pasquale Rubati Milano, 1780 circa
Located in Milano, IT
Assortment of 12 elements with polychrome and gold decoration
Pasquale Rubati Factory
Milan, circa 1770- 1790.
Two oval trays 10.62 in x 8.58 in (27 x 21.8 cm)
Two dishes with perf...
Category
Italian Rococo Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Maiolica
Four Italian Ancient Dishes, Lodi, circa 1770-1780
Located in Milano, IT
Assortment of 4 dishes with braided rim
Antonio Ferretti Manufacture
Lodi, circa 1770-1780
Maiolica polychrome decorated “a piccolo fuoco” (third fire).
Measures: 14 x 10 in (35.5 x 25.5 cm);
12.2 x 8.39 in (31 x 21.3 cm);
10.4 x 9.65 in (26.5 x 24.5 cm);
10.8 x 9.61 in (27.5 x 24.4 cm).
Weight: 4.4 lb (1.998 kg)
State of conservation: some chips due to use on the edges and on the parts in relief.
The four different dishes have a foot with a low lip from which extends a wide, flat, slanted rim resembling a basket weave. The small handles are painted green: they resemble wickerwork in the two oval dishes and take the form of a sinuous branch in the round ones.
The third fire decoration is inspired by the naturalistic floral botanical patterns on the ceramics produced by the Hannong family in Strasbourg. Here the pattern is defined by the rapidity and subtlety of the brushstrokes and the result is particularly tasteful, characterized by compositional intelligence and pictorial expertise.
A main corolla, either a wild or garden rose, is set slightly off center in each well. From this extends a thin stem holding a small secondary bud and there are small field florets dotting the composition to lend volume to the delicate bunch of flowers.
On the brim, small polychrome flowers add color to the weave, accompanied by lanceolate leaves of a very intense green.
There exist few and very rare examples for comparison with this morphology: a round plate - entirely consistent with those in question - has been dated to around 1775 (S. Levy, Maioliche settecentesche lombarde e venete, Milano 1962, tav. 200). Two other dishes with a basket rim, but with parallel striped brim decoration, were exhibited in the 1995 exhibition on Lodi ceramics; the attribution to the Lombard town near Milan is therefore almost exclusively derived from the decoration called "alla rosa contornata" or "alla vecchia Lodi" and constitutes one of the most popular decorations during the eighteenth century. (M. L. Gelmini, in Maioliche lodigiane del '700 (cat. mostra Lodi), Milano 1995, pp. 31 p. 162-163 nn. 181-182).
This decorative choice represented a strong point of the Lodi factory, which established itself thanks to the vivid nature of the colors made possible by the introduction of a new technique perfected by Paul Hannong in Strasbourg and which Antonio Ferretti introduced in Italy. This production process, called “piccolo fuoco” (third fire), allowed the use of a greater number of colors than in the past; in particular, the purple of Cassius, a red made from gold chloride, was introduced. Its use allowed for many more tones and shades, from pink to purple.
The Ferretti family had started their Maiolica manufacturing business in Lodi in 1725.
The forefather Simpliciano had started the business by purchasing an ancient furnace in 1725 and, indeed, we have evidence of the full activity of the furnaces from April of the same year (Novasconi-Ferrari-Corvi, 1964, p. 26 n. 4). Simpliciano had started a production of excellence also thanks to the ownership of clay quarries in Stradella, not far from Pavia. The production was so successful that in 1726 a decree of the Turin Chamber came to prohibit the importation of foreign ceramics, especially from Lodi, to protect internal production (G. Lise, La ceramica a Lodi, Lodi 1981, p. 59).
In its initial stages, the manufacture produced maolicas painted with the “a gran fuoco” (double fire) technique, often in turquoise monochrome, with ornamentation derived from compositional modules in vogue in Rouen in France. This was also thanks to the collaboration of painters like Giorgio Giacinto Rossetti, who placed his name on the best specimens next to the initials of the factory.
In 1748 Simpliciano made his will (Gelmini, 1995, p. 30) appointing his son Giuseppe Antonio (known as Antonio) as universal heir. After 1750, when Simpliciano passed away, Antonio was directly involved in the Maiolica factory, increasing its fortunes and achieving a reputation on a European level. Particularly important was the aforementioned introduction in 1760 of the innovative “a piccolo fuoco” (third fire) processing, which, expanding the ornamental repertoire with Saxon-inspired floral themes, could commercially compete with the German porcelains that had one of its most renowned offerings in the naturalistic Deutsche Blumen. Antonio Ferretti understood and promoted this technique and this decoration, proposing it in a fresher and more corrective version, less linked to botanical tables...
Category
Italian Neoclassical Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Maiolica
Italian Maiolica Service Pasquale Rubati Milano with Green Flowers, circa 1780
Located in Milano, IT
Assortment of 21 maiolica service elements
Pasquale Rubati Factory
Milan, 1780 circa
a. Four large oval dishes or fish dishes 10.43 in x 21.25 in (26.5 c...
Category
Italian Rococo Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Maiolica
18th Century Faience Jug
Located in Copenhagen, K
Beautiful German faience jug from one of the Northern German factories.
Category
German Folk Art Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Faience
Antique English Staffordshire Prattware Pottery Rooster or Cockrel Figurine
Located in Philadelphia, PA
A antique English prattware model of a cockerel or rooster.
With mottled decoration in ochres and yellow.
The base bears an old partial D. M. ...
Category
British Country Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Pottery
Italian Maiolica Flower Pot Garlands of Flowers, P. Rubati, Milano, 1770 circa
Located in Milano, IT
Maiolica flower pot “a mezzaluna”
decorated with garlands of flowers
Pasquale Rubati Factory
Milan, circa 1770
Measures: 4.7 in x 5 in x 8.8 in
...
Category
Italian Rococo Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Maiolica
Antique English Creamware 18th Century Sweetmeat Platt Menage circa 1780-1790
Located in Katonah, NY
We are thrilled to offer this fabulous large three-tiered 18th-century creamware platt menage, made circa 1780-90 in Staffordshire or Yorkshire, England.
It is a rare and elegant ex...
Category
English Rococo Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Creamware
Villafeliche Jug, Aragon, Spain, 18th Century
Located in Madrid, ES
Late Baroque pottery jug made and decorated with high temperature glazes over a white slip of tin. These motifs are combined with enameled decorations in relief obtained mold. The typology of the piece combines Italian jug with handle ovoid belly and vertical bow, with the peak jug typically Spanish, characterized by the outgoing peak of the mouth. Decorations reveal the oriental influence, with large floral bouquets arranged asymmetrically and complex landscapes with architecture and palm trees, which remove some figures, such as totally Western. The reasons appear pincelados in manganese black, and colored with ocher, blue, green and red, mainly enamels. Aragon ceramic least a century old will be characterized by a strong own, combined with the influences of personality Talavera and Catalonia. You will have three main centers: Teruel, Muel and Villafeliche, the first two with tradition since the 16th century, and the third created in the late 17th century. The Villafeliche will generally be very popular ceramics...
Category
Spanish Neoclassical Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Ceramic
Pair of 18th Century Chinese Export Porcelain Mancerinas or Trembleuses
Located in Dallas, TX
A pair of Chinese export porcelain mancerinas or trembleuses likely made for the Spanish/Spanish Colonial market. Based on a silver form, the standing central ring was designed to su...
Category
Chinese Chinese Export Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Porcelain
Four Chinese Export Famille Rose Botanical Plates, Qianlong Period (1736-1795)
Located in Ottawa, Ontario
A very attractive group of four 18th century Chinese export porcelain botanical plates apparently made for the French market, circa 1775.
Each plate having a scalloped rim banded wit...
Category
Chinese Qing Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Porcelain
Oriental Flower Lamps
Located in New York, NY
Graceful pair of porcelain Oriental lamps hand-painted with garden scenes in rich orange and green color tones on a cream background. The main ...
Category
Chinese Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
18th Century, Chinese Export Coral and Puce Porcelain Tea Service
Located in Downingtown, PA
Chinese export porcelain service spectacularly decorated with a smart coral scale ground with panels of puce flowers.
The service com...
Category
Chinese Chinese Export Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Porcelain
Set of 6 Early Wedgwood Creamware Neoclassical Style Dinner Dishes
By Wedgwood
Located in Fort Lauderdale, FL
A set of six early Wedgwood creamware Neoclassical dessert dishes made circa 1780.
Sir William Hamilton’s Collection of Etruscan, Greek and Roman ant...
Category
British Neoclassical Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Creamware
Ancient Italian Maiolica Flower Pots, Pasquale Rubati Factory, Milan 1770 circa
Located in Milano, IT
Maiolica flower pot “a mezzaluna”
Pasquale Rubati Factory
Milan, 1770 Circa
They measure: height 6.2 in x 8.66 x 5.31 (15,8 cm x 22 x 13,5)
Weigh...
Category
Italian Rococo Antique 18th Century and Earlier Ceramics
Materials
Maiolica
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