Vintage Italian Hand Painted Faience Soup Dishes

This is superb set of 10 faience "Vietri" Italy hand painted side or salad plates. The plates were painted and signed by Romolo Apicella. We believe that ...

This is a good example of a mid-18th century Delft charger in a chinoiserie hand-painted pattern. The pottery is hand-painted in a traditional blue and white chinoiserie scene featur...

This is a stunning large Chinese glazed terracotta dragon-form ewer. The Double Dragons are cast in fine detail. The ewer derives its inspiration fro...

This is a good example of a very early 19th century Pearlware Chestnut Basket in the "Blue Willow" transfer pattern. Creamware was invented during the second half of the 18th century and reached its height of popularity c.1810. Chestnut baskets were common serving pieces in 18th and 19th century households. Period antique Chestnut basket...

This is a superb pair of painted tole single beds that dates to the late 19th century to circa 1920. The beds feature a butter yellow base color with a painted landscape to both the ...

This is a charming single Maria Teresa-style Italian beaded sconce that dates to the 1950s. The sconce is detailed with an abundance of faceted d...

An early 20th century French faience footed oval tureen with traditional design typical of Eastern France. Hand-painted Chinoiserie decoration in pink, ora...

This beautiful antique ceramic dish was crafted in Normandy, France, circa 1880. The stylized ceramic plate has a scalloped edge and depicts a han...

A set of two peacock design Delft plates, and two larger Delft dishes. All hand-painted with "peacock" pattern. 2 plates marked "De Porceleyne Claeuw" Dimensions: diameter of 9" / 23cm each plate. 2 dishes are also marked, one for "De Porceleyne Claeuw" (Porcelain Claw) and the other one marked 'De drie...

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...

A Henriot Quimper French faience hand painted decorative plate, depicting a Breton couple in traditional clothing. Orange foliate border and with Quimper crown crest at the top. A go...

This faience soup tureen was made in the Philippe Mombaers factory in Brussels circa 1765. The cabbage tureen, its cover, and the stand are painted in ...