Porcelain
1760s English Rococo Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
Mid-18th Century English Chinoiserie Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
Mid-18th Century English Neoclassical Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
Mid-18th Century English Rococo Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
1750s English Neoclassical Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
Mid-18th Century English Neoclassical Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
Late 18th Century English Neoclassical Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
1980s Spanish Vintage Porcelain
Porcelain
1760s English Rococo Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
Late 18th Century Chinese Chinese Export Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
Late 19th Century French Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
Early 1900s Chinese Chinese Export Antique Porcelain
Ormolu
Late 19th Century English Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Porcelain
Porcelain
19th Century French Chinoiserie Antique Porcelain
Ormolu
1930s Unknown Vintage Porcelain
Porcelain
1950s Italian Rococo Revival Vintage Porcelain
Porcelain
1870s German Rococo Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
1910s German Art Nouveau Vintage Porcelain
Porcelain
1750s English Georgian Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
1750s English Rococo Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
1660s English Rococo Antique Porcelain
Porcelain
Mid-18th Century English Antique 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.