18th Century and Earlier Ceramics

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...

Blue and white armorial plate with the coat of arms of Johan van der Does and Elisabeth van der Dussen. Delft, 1686-1701. The Greek A pottery. Mark: AK, period of Adrianus Kocx (16...

Italy, 18th Century Ceramic hanging platter. Measures: Ø 34 x D 5 cm.

Rare surviving small piece of early tableware. Suitable for everyday use as a charming piece of history for the dining table. two red bands around the top. the base decorated with...

Chinese Export American market, blue & white 'star' boarder armorial platters China for American Market, Circa 1790s A rare and unique example of...

The socarrat is a slab of fired clay or thick tile, glazed in white and generally decorated in reddish or brownish and blackish tones, intended to be placed between beams, on roofs a...

The socarrat is a slab of fired clay or thick tile, glazed in white and generally decorated in reddish or brownish and blackish tones, intended to be placed between beams, on roofs a...

Pre-Columbian Mayan terracotta vessel with Glyphs. A fine, well-made terra-cotta Pre-Columbian Mayan, Mexican vessel in cylindrical vase form with ...

18th century Spanish ceramic Plate with Architectural scene.

Blue and white chinoiserie bottle vase. Delft, circa 1685. The Metal Pot pottery. Mark: LC and 4, period of Lambertus Cleffius (1679-1691) The bottle vase has an octagonal body with a flaring neck, standing on a waisted foot. The chinoiserie decoration is executed with purple outlining. A smoking incense burner stands...

Blue and white floral chinoiserie jar. Delft, 1650-1680 The ovoid jar has a lightly spreading foot and a short, straight upright neck. The jar is p...

Polychrome covered jar with peacock and dragon in a landscape. Delft, 1690-1700 The Peacock pottery [attributed to] The octagonal baluster jar wi...

Azulejo de cerámica vidriada español de triana en color azul y blanco, S XVIII de cabeza de caballo pintado a mano.

Glazed ceramics with lustre-painted decoration This is glazed ware, i.e. it is glazed with a white enamel bath, very pure in the best examples, which is f...

This is a rare coffee cup and saucer in ‘The Traveller’ or ‘One Legged Duck’ blue transfer printed, hand gilded pattern by John Turner & family, of Lane End, Longton, Staffordshire. ...

The socarrat is a slab of fired clay or thick tile, glazed in white and generally decorated in reddish or brownish and blackish tones, intended to be placed between beams, on roofs a...

The blue and white dish has a wide, spreading flange and is painted in the centre with a Chinese-style rocky landscape with plants, flowers and birds. The depiction is framed within a polygon shape. The well and flange are divided into eight wide and eight narrow panels...

This is a beautifully hand-painted Chinese porcelain blue and white large plate from the Qing, Kangxi period, 1662-1722. The plate is finely potted with a carefully cut base rim a...

Glazed ceramics with lustre-painted decoration This is glazed ware, i.e. it is glazed with a white enamel bath, very pure in the best examples, which is f...

An 18th century Delft ceramic plate, hand-painted in, blue red and green with floral decoration. Several chips to rim.

Rocking cradle with child. Delft, 1750-1780 Polychrome figure of a child in a rocking cradle with open hood. The child is dressed in a yellow nightgown and sleeping cap with reddish-brown and green dots. It sits upright under a marbled blanket and holds the sides of the yellow cradle with both hands. Dimensions: length 12,5 cm / 4.92 in., width 9 cm / 3.54 in., height 11,5 cm / 4.52 in. Figures of children in a rocking cradle are generally dated to the second half of the eighteenth century. They may have been inspired by plates, made at the birth of Prince William V...

Cerámica esmaltada con decoración de reflejo metálico Se trata de una cerámica esmaltada, es decir, con un baño de esmalte blanco, muy puro en los mejores ejemplos, que se cuece en ...

Rare surviving small piece of early tableware. Suitable for everyday use as a charming piece of history for the dining table. French faience salt. Oval shape with a leafy sprig in...

Beautiful small white porcelain plate decorated with different flowers such as petunias and phlox. Leaves seem to fly. A small plum is hidden on the back of the plate. We discover a work of extreme finesse. The lines are very fine and delicate. The arrival of porcelain in Europe was linked to the development of shipping and international trade. Porcelain was very popular in Europe because of its lightness and durability. The importation from China is linked to the lack of mastery of this technique by the Europeans. The French, Dutch and British East India...

Decorated with a chinoiserie scene of a man sitting on rocks within a landscape. Surrounded by a triple-circle center and an interlocking arc and trefoil border. The rim with 27 flut...

Dutch delftware pear. Delft, 1750-1780 The pear with stem is modelled on a base of leaves and is painted in realistic colours. Dimensions: heigh...

Rare surviving small piece of early tableware. Suitable for everyday use as a charming piece of history for the dining table. The oval centre painted with a large berry and leafy ...

17th century Spanish Talavera pharmacy jar in blue glazed ceramic.

Blue and white armorial dish. Harlingen, dated 1744 The dish has a wide raised flange and is painted in blue with a coat of arms and the year 1744. The depiction is framed within ...

Crafted by Wedgwood, this exquisite and rare assembled coffee cup and saucer set are comprised of the firm’s famous pale “Wedgwood blue” jasperwar...

17th century Spanish Talavera pharmacy jar in blue Glazed ceramic.

A fine and rare Japanese ao-oribe glazed minoyaki stoneware dish, late Momoyama or early Edo period, 17th century, Japan. The circular dish of wheel thrown stoneware, glazed in the ...

Two maiolica flower pots Antonio Ferretti Manufacture Lodi, Circa 1770 - 1780 Maiolica polychrome decorated “a piccolo fuoco” (third fire) The...

17th Century Spanish Talavera pharmacy jar in blue glazed ceramic.

17th century Spanish Talavera pharmacy jar in blue glazed ceramic.

17th Century Spanish Talavera pharmacy jar in Blue Glazed ceramic.

A rare Dutch Majolica plate with a decoration of a tulip. Northern Netherlands, probably made in the city of Rotterdam. Made 1620 - 1640 Dutch majo...

Triangular spice. Glazed ceramic. Talavera de la Reina, Spain, 17th century. Has damage. Triangular glazed ceramic spice rack decorated with a...

This large Chinese Imari porcelain charger dates to the Qianlong period of the Qing dynasty, circa 1760.   Finely potted with a lovely rich, glassy white glaze, the charger is hand-p...

This is a very good Chinese porcelain large plate, made for the export (Canton) market, during the middle of the 18th century, Qing-Qianl...

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...

This is a very beautiful porcelain coffee can with a hand painted scene of Notre-Dame Cathedral, made by Paris, France, dating to the late 18th century, circa 1795. The coffee can is broadly cylindrical tapering slightly to the base, with a ring handle having an inner spur. This is a very finely hand painted coffee can with a view of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, all in many different coloured enamels. The view even shows various figures in the foreground, all set in a rectangular thick gilded border, against a lovely lemon yellow ground. with further hand painted gold gilded rims and outer handle. Overall a very distinctive, beautifully decorated coffee can. NOTES Notre-Dame de Paris, often simply referred to as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral and is the most famous of the Gothic cathedrals from the middle ages, situated on the Île de la Cité, in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The Roman Catholic cathedral, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture. Notre-Dame was built on the ruins of two earlier churches, which were themselves predated by a Gallo-Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter. The cathedral was initiated by Maurice de Sully, bishop of Paris, who about 1160 conceived the idea of converting into a single building, on a larger scale, the ruins of the two earlier basilicas. The foundation stone was laid by Pope Alexander III in 1163, and the high altar...

Cerámica esmaltada con decoración de reflejo metálico Se trata de una cerámica esmaltada, es decir, con un baño de esmalte blanco, muy puro en los mejores ejemplos, que se cuece en ...

The blue and white dish has a narrow, flat flange and is painted in the centre with a Chinese figure in an oriental garden landscape in a double circle. The brushwork is executed in blue within purple outlining on a light blue-coloured tin-glaze. The Chinese figure carries a guzheng, a Chinese zither, wrapped in a cover. On the well and flange are six different landscapes and terrace scenes, partly filled with Chinese men and women. The reverse is painted with four circles with a dot and four smaller circles.  The decoration is inspired by Chinese porcelain from the transitional period at the end of the Ming and the start of the Qing dynasty. The porcelain of the last Ming emperor Chongzhen (reigned 1628-1644), the first Qing emperor...

A very fine and exceptionally rare pair of circa 1760 Qianlong period Chinese export for the Anglo-Indian market chargers of large size, the molded and scallop-shaped bodies painted with delicately enameled 'bianco-sopra-bianco' floral borders with polychrome lotus flowers and buds surrounding central cusped cartouches painted...

18th Century Spanish Ceramic Plate with Architectural Scene

Hand-Painted ceramic jug with lead lid, dated from 1762, initials G. and R. and signed at the bottom, with scenes of windmills and a house.

18th century Japanese Kakiemon foliate rimmed bowl, Edo period (1603-1867). This charming bowl's decor shows a guardian lion ("shi shi") and a floral...

This is a very fine hard paste porcelain Tea Bowl and Saucer by New Hall, dating to the 18th century, George 111rd period, circa 1785. Both pieces have 24 vertical flutes. Both pie...

Blue and yellow chinoiserie lobed dish. Delft, 1680-1700 Dimensions: diameter 33,2 cm / 13.07 in. The blue and yellow lobed dish is c...

A rare large Chinese export porcelain 'Table Bay' dish Qianlong period, circa 1735-1750 Diam. 27.5 cm This version of the ‘Table Bay’ porcelain docu...

The dish has a wide-spreading flange and is painted in blue with a still life in a panelled border. A bottle vase with various flowers is in the foreground before a low rectangular container on feet, filled with a rocky landscape. To the left of the container is a tall, cylindrical vase with grassy plants. Two butterflies and an insect fly in the sky. The well and flange are divided into eight wide and eight narrow panels...

18th century Indigo blue glazed ceramic jar.

This is a hard paste porcelain coffee can & saucer duo by New Hall, hand decorated with their Chinese figure pattern number 421, dating to the English George 3rd...

A Rouen Faience in the shape of a young bacchus seated on a blue barrel holding a bottle in his right hand and a glass in his left hand. Polychrome decoration of vine branches and gr...

This is a good Chinese porcelain circular Platter or large plate, made for the export (Canton) market, during the middle of the 18th century, Qing-Qianlong period. The plate is we...

White lobed dish. Delft, 1650-1700. Dimensions: diameter 33 cm / 12.99 in. The white lobed dish is composed of twenty-seven double lobes around a curved ...

This is a good porcelain TRIO of a Tea Cup, Coffee Cup and saucer by the Derby factory, made during the George 111rd period, circa 1795. The pieces are well potted in the Hamilton...