Porcelain
1990s Italian Other Porcelain
Porcelain
1870s German Neoclassical Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
Early 1800s French Empire Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
1970s European Vintage Porcelain
Porcelain
1990s English American Classical Porcelain
Porcelain
1880s English Antique Porcelain
Ironstone
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Porcelain
Porcelain
Mid-20th Century Polish Porcelain
Ceramic, Porcelain, Glass
Mid-20th Century English Victorian Porcelain
Porcelain
19th Century French Neoclassical Antique Porcelain
Marble
Early 20th Century German Porcelain
Porcelain
1940s German Baroque Vintage Porcelain
Porcelain
Mid-19th Century Italian Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
Mid-20th Century Hungarian Empire Porcelain
Porcelain
Early 20th Century English Porcelain
Porcelain
19th Century French Napoleon III Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
18th Century English George III Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Porcelain
Porcelain
1970s German Post-Modern Vintage Porcelain
Porcelain
1930s Unknown Vintage Porcelain
Porcelain
Late 19th Century French Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Porcelain
Porcelain
19th Century English Regency Antique Porcelain
Ceramic, Porcelain
1910s German Art Nouveau Vintage Porcelain
Porcelain
Early 20th Century Chinese Qing Porcelain
Clay, Stoneware
19th Century English Antique Porcelain
Ceramic
Late 19th Century French Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
Late 19th Century French Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
Late 19th Century French Japonisme Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
Mid-20th Century German Porcelain
Porcelain
Mid-20th Century Chinese Chinese Export Porcelain
Ceramic
19th Century English Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
1960s German Vintage Porcelain
Porcelain
19th Century Japanese Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
Early 20th Century English Edwardian Porcelain
Porcelain
Mid-20th Century German Mid-Century Modern Porcelain
Porcelain
Late 18th Century Chinese Chinese Export Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
Early 20th Century Swedish Scandinavian Modern Porcelain
Porcelain
1920s Japanese Vintage Porcelain
Porcelain
1960s German Mid-Century Modern Vintage Porcelain
Porcelain
1930s English Art Deco Vintage Porcelain
Porcelain
19th Century Asian Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
1840s English Victorian Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
20th Century Chinese Porcelain
Porcelain
20th Century French Porcelain
Ceramic
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Porcelain
Porcelain
1940s Austrian Vintage Porcelain
Porcelain
20th Century Chinese Chinese Export Porcelain
Porcelain
1980s Mid-Century Modern Vintage Porcelain
Porcelain
19th Century Chinese Chinese Export Antique Porcelain
Ceramic
1870s English Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
1940s Czech Neoclassical Vintage Porcelain
Porcelain
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Porcelain
Porcelain
20th Century Chinese Porcelain
Porcelain
1960s Japanese Vintage Porcelain
Porcelain
19th Century Japanese Meiji Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Porcelain
Metal
1960s Czech Mid-Century Modern Vintage Porcelain
Porcelain
Antique and Vintage Porcelain Dinner Plates, Platters and Serveware for Sale
Today you’re likely to bring out your antique and vintage porcelain in order to dress up your dining table for a special meal.
Porcelain, a durable and nonporous kind of pottery made from clay and stone, was first made in China and spread across the world owing to the trade routes to the Far East established by Dutch and Portuguese merchants. Given its origin, English speakers called porcelain “fine china,” an expression you still might hear today. "Fine" indeed — for over a thousand years, it has been a highly sought-after material.
Meissen Porcelain, one of the first factories to create real porcelain outside Asia, popularized figurine centerpieces during the 18th century in Germany, while works by Capodimonte, a porcelain factory in Italy, are synonymous with flowers and notoriously hard to come by. Modern porcelain houses such as Maison Fragile of Limoges, France — long a hub of private porcelain manufacturing — keep the city’s long tradition alive while collaborating with venturesome contemporary artists such as illustrator Jean-Michel Tixier.
Porcelain is not totally clumsy-guest-proof, but it is surprisingly durable and easy to clean. Its low permeability and hardness have rendered porcelain wares a staple in kitchens and dining rooms as well as a common material for bathroom sinks and dental veneers. While it is tempting to store your porcelain behind closed glass cabinet doors and reserve it only for display, your porcelain dinner plates and serving platters can safely weather the “dangers” of the dining room and be used during meals.
Add different textures and colors to your table with dinner plates and pitchers of ceramic and silver or a porcelain lidded tureen, a serving dish with side handles that is often used for soups. Although porcelain and ceramic are both made in a kiln, porcelain is made with more refined clay and is stronger than ceramic because it is denser.
On 1stDibs, browse an expansive collection of antique and vintage porcelain made in a variety of styles, including Regency, Scandinavian modern and other examples produced during the mid-century era, plus Rococo, which found its inspiration in nature and saw potters crafting animal figurines and integrating organic motifs such as floral patterns in their work.