Antique Pair of Capodimonte Porcelain Urns Vases Jars, circa 1900

This is a beautiful antique Italian Capodimonte porcelain casket, late 19th Century in date. The box and cover are superbly decorated in relief with classical scenes, and there are...

This is a beautiful antique large Italian Capodimonte porcelain table casket, 1880 in date. It features a gladiatorial scene with the Emperor and Empr...

This is a fine and rare antique pair of French porcelain ormolu mounted twin handled urns in the Sevres manner, dating from Circa 1860. The decorative twin handle vases are super...

This is a beautiful pair of Dresden lidded vases and covers, circa 1900 in date. Superbly painted with panels of figural scenes of courting couples and flowers on a yellow and gilt ground, with underglaze blue Dresden marks to the bases. They are beautiful objects which will look fabulous in most surroundings. Condition: In excellent condition with no chips, cracks or signs of repair, and only very minor signs of wear comensurate with age and use, please see photos for confirmation of condition. Dimensions in cm: Height 32 x Width 20 x Depth 20 Dimensions in inches: Height 1 foot, 1 inch x Width 8 inches x Depth 8 inches Dresden porcelain - A King's Obsession In the early 1700s, King Augustus II, prince elector of Saxony, held goldsmith Johann Bottger prisoner and commissioned him to create gold. Bottger instead discovered the method of creating porcelain, a favored and valuable item in the king's eyes. The king announced to Europe in 1710 that he would open a porcelain manufactory in Dresden. He instead opened one at nearby Albrechtsburg castle. Espionage was rampant, and the king guarded his porcelain secret, even though it meant imprisoning workers within the castle walls. By 1720, the secret was leaked and porcelain producers popped up in Vienna and Venice. Dresden porcelain adopted Saxon crossed swords in under-glaze blue as its distinguishing mark. In 1736, the porcelain manufactory produced the "Swan Service...

A pair of porcelain urns from the empire period, probably Russian. Painted with flowers and gilded.

Antique Italian Capodimonte Porcelain Set with Classical Figures - One Lidded & Two Open Jars, c1890 Measures - 5" x 4 7/8" x 3 7/8"

An important and extremely large pair of Magenta Ground Vienna Porcelain Exhibition vases. Austrian, circa 1900. Each vase with blue underglazed ‘Beehive’ mark to interior of neck. Each vase is finely painted with classical scenes to the front and allegorical scenes to the back on a rich magenta ground with gilt foliate decoration. The vases are mounted by extraordinary gilt handles headed by winged female masks to the sides and grotesque masks to the shoulders. The spreading necks decorated with Greek key decoration are surmounted by domed covers and the vases are raised on baluster form supports put down on drum bases finely painted with panels stylised arabesque. The Vienna Porcelain Manufactory was founded in 1718 only eight years after Johann Friedrich Bottger and Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus had succeeded in unearthing the secret of Porcelain Manufacture for August the Strong, Elector of Saxony. On May 25, 1718, Emperor Karl VI signed a "special privilege" awarding Claudius Innocentius du Paquier the exclusive right to produce porcelain in the Austrian crown lands. Production being almost exclusively for the imperial household and the court nobility. During the rococo era, Empress Maria Theresia placed the company under imperial ownership and it was during this period that the manufactory began to produce the famous rococo genre scenes after Watteau. Under the management of Conrad Sorgel von Sorgenthal, the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory achieved an international reputation for its neo-classical style. After the wars with France brought the manufactory to the brink of ruin, the Vienna Congress at the beginning of the Nineteenth Century gave porcelain from Vienna a renewed upswing. Many important personalities of the time, including Czar Alexander I of Russia...

Pair of 1900 vases in blue porcelain of Tours with gilded decoration of roses topped by ribbons. These gold-coloured motifs are typical of the Art Nouveau decorations of the ceramist...