Ralph Wood Creamware Bacchus Mug, circa 1770

Very rare and early 19th century, possibly earlier French stoneware pottery mug has a blue spatter design under glaze on the sides and handle....

Cleopatra and Mark Antony, in enamelled creamware. After a model by Ralph and Enoch Wood, and quite likely made by this important partnership. The figur...

Indigo Storm, 1882 Ltd. with Faye Toogood. Faye Toogood’s range of ceramic designs for 1882 Ltd. celebrates the accidental beauty of natural imperfections. Indigo Storm is a bold int...

Circa 1770 Delft blue & white plate. Central handled & footed basket vase overflowing with flowers, surrounded by alternating repetive floral vases & natura...

This is a rare first period (or Dr. Wall) Worcester Coffee Cup, with a distinctive hand painted pattern, made of porcelain and dating to the 18th century, circa 1770. The cup is well potted with a grooved loop handle This delightful early Worcester Cup...

Maiolica tureen “allo struzzo” (ostrich decoration) Milan, Felice Clerici or Pasquale Rubati factory, circa 1750-1780 Measures: 9.25 in x 12.79 in x 10.23 in (cm 23.5 x cm 32.5 x cm 26) lb 4.78 (kg 2.17) State of conservation, a felûre consolidated inside with slight edge chipping restored. In Milan in the 18th century two Majolica warehouses were opened, the first, by Felice Clerici, in 1745, the second in 1756 by Pasquale Rubati. Traditionally this type of decoration has been attributed to the Pasquale Rubati factory. In reality the motif “allo struzzo”, one of the clearest examples of how the taste for chinoiserie met with considerable success during the 18th century, had been produced, in specimens of greater or lesser quality, by both Milanese manufactories. This Maiolica tureen has a swollen and ribbed oval bowl, rests on an extroflexed foot and shows stirrup handles. The tri-color ornament, in the typical tones of Japanese "Imari" decorations, shows an idealized oriental landscape that develops around a perforated rock and has a willow tree with long lance-shaped leaves framing the long-legged bird figure. The ornamentation is enhanced by decorative elements such as butterflies, small florets and a vase with a thin flowery stem. The lid is ribbed with a pear-shaped knob on top. The decoration was called in the Milanese manufactories "allo struzzo" (ostrich decoration) and this refers to the oriental figure Xian He or the crane, symbol of longevity, here losing its symbolic value. It is hypothesized that among some 16th century engravings...

This is a rare and early stone China (Ironstone) mug which dates to the George 111 period, circa 1815 made by the Davenport factory of Longport, Staffordshire Potteries, England. The mug is straight sided similar to a coffee can and has a loop handle with an upper thumb rest. The pattern is number "659", which is one of Davenport's very few chinoiserie patterns. The bold pattern features striking polychrome enamels of rocks and different flowers all in the Chinoiserie style, hand painted over-glaze in different colours over an under-glaze blue printed outline. The pattern is embellished with good hand gilding. There is also a deep border pattern to the inside rim which replicates the outer mug pattern with sprigs of hand painted flowers. The mark on the base of the mug is Godden's 1183, a blue printed DAVENPORT STONE CHINA...

A set of four early Wedgwood creamware Neoclassical dessert dishes made circa 1780. Sir William Hamilton’s Collection of Etruscan, Greek and Roman an...

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...

Sick cup Pasquale Rubati Manufacture Milan, Circa 1770 - 1780 Maiolica decorated in polychrome “a piccolo fuoco” (third fire) It measures: h 2.36 x 7.4 x 7.87 (h 6 x 19 x 20 cm) ...