Antique Porcelain Vases: Minton Vases, Moore, Rockingham, Spode, Swansea and Royal Worcester Vase
Antique Porcelain Vases: Minton Vases, Moore, Rockingham, Spode, Swansea and Royal Worcester Vase
Antique Minton Porcelain Vase 1871.
A good pair of vases with brightly enamelled birds. The blue ground is rather too dark resulting in an unfortunate drab appearance; a brighter blue or other colour could raise the price. The handles and borders gilt.
Impressed name and date code An important dock garniture in pate-sur-pate by M.L. Solon. Solon came to England from Sevres in 1870 and had this garniture ready for the 1871 London International Exhibition where it was shown on the stand of Thomas Goode. It was also illustrated in the Art Journal Catalogue. It is difficult to assess accurately pieces as important as this set, which had some damage to covers and opened firing faults, the price being dependent on so many factors.
One of the oriental-influenced wares of the 1870’s and 80’s which are underpriced. Well decorated and gilt but not popular. A pair would be much better, but still the price compares unfavourably with, for example, a pair of Royal Worcester vases with sheep. This shape with the small loop handles has been seen with the handles broken off, ground down and restored.
Antique Mintons Vase 1874.
A pale pink soft porcelain body with gilt-printed roundles. A plain but interesting moon flask from a design point of vicw. The fish are taken from the Chinese fish moulded in low relief on marriage ceremony dishes and the stylisation of the butterfly could suggest a 1920s date. The type of item that is unappreciated by all but a few enthusiasts for the history of ceramic design.
Mintons possibly 1875.
Printed name and retailer’s mark, blurred date code
This set of vases is very thinly potted and intricately pierced and therefore fragile. Few examples seem to have survived. The rose-pompadour ground has gilt-edged panels of putti resting on clouds. All of good quality and desirable.
Minton c. 1880.
A dull pair of vases, the shoulders in simulated bronze and with silvered and gilt flowers on a pale lilac ground. The idea of the bronze bands is taken from Chinese porcelain of the same date where it is equally dreary.
A superb, coloured, pate-sur-pate vase by M.L. Solon, signed, with an elaborate design of putti being weighed. The borders in green, yellow, brown and gilding. The technique of pate-sur-pate was extremely slow and fraught with dangers of failure and, therefore, very expensive at the time. This particular vase is highly successful and the subject matter is easier to take than many of Solon’s designs.
The pate-sur-pate panel by T. Mellor, signed and inscribed ‘after A. Boullemier’. The body in page pink-red with blue ribbons, the white figures against midnight-blue. T. Mellor was one of Solon’s pupils and his work is rare; it is additionally unusual to have recorded the name of the artist after whom the design is taken.
Mintons c.1890
Printed crown and globe, impressed name and retailer’s name.
A pate-sur-pate vase of fine quality but unfortunately unsigned. The body a deep sea-green and a very common shape for pate-sur-pate decoration. M.L. Solon who trained several apprentices to help in the work, was said to disapprove of anyone but himself signing their work, although after 1900 this became more common. The mark of retailer is often found on pieces such as this, in this case Thomas Goode.
Minton Vase 1894
A rare M.L. Solon vase with a white figure in pate-sur-pate against the ‘artificial ruby’ ground which changes colour according to the light in which it is viewed. The combination of bichrome of potash and alumina changes from mushroom in daylight to deep-carmine in tungsten.
Blurred impressed marks.
One of an unusual pair of vases in that there are seven different colours of pate-sur-pate involved. The panels are by H. Hollins, signed, and the whole design is not particularly successful. The body is also too big for the foot. Hollins was one of Solon’s apprentices but by no means one of the best. Compare with the Solon vase .
Mintons 1895-1900
Printed gilt crowned globe, date code.
A deep aquamarine body with white figures by M.L.Solon, signed. Typical subject and the usual good gilt borders. The standard of the pate-sur-pate is unusually crisp and clear and the price reflects this. The date codes on pate-sur-pate of this date are frequently blurred and difficult to decipher but one can usually make out enough of an outline to give bracket figures.
A pate-sur-pate vase by Alboine Birks with his monogram. The argument over whether Solon or his pupil Birks was the better pate-sur-pate artist ultimately rests on one’s own taste but certainly Birks’s handling of naturalistic foliage and flowers was streaks ahead of his master’s, while his putti appear to have taken weight-lifting courses.
Moore 1873
A good quality vase in the form of a putto supporting a fan, hollow to form a vase. Like the Brown-Westhead, Moore example not a much collected style especially as the bird painting on the fan is beginning to reflect the Japanese taste with a resultant clash of cultures.
Porcelain Moore Vase c.1895.
A pair of vases in the form of epiphyllum cacti, a favourite form, not only of Moore’s, but of several other factories of the last quarter of the 19th Century. The flowers pale yellow and with base gilt, on the poorly-moulded ground. These can be found in several sizes.
Rockingham Vase 1826-42. Printed griffin in puce.
A small and not very attractive piece of porcelain painted with uninspired flowers on a blue ground. Without the factory mark this vase would fetch about 100. Although the shape is unique to the factory, an unmarked piece would fetch. A really well painted piece.
An attractively painted vase with typical early nineteenth century flowers including the popular ranunculus and passion flower reserved in a gilt panel on a green ground. The shape is common to many factories and a mark is vital for identification, but look out for added marks. Prices vary according to period and the decoration.
Rockingham Porcelain Vase 1830-42.
One of the few vases of a type at one time always called Rockingham which actually is. The scene of a ruined abbey is rather mean in size but the bizarre stork-head handles help a great deal. The applied flowers of the best. Made in other sizes.
Spode first quarter of the 19th century.
A typical Imari pattern of the period with the usual stylised flowers and fenced garden. Because they are not uncommon and not large enough to score on their decoration alone, vases such as these are not expensive.
Antique Spode Vase c.1820-30
A fine pair of vases in neo-classical style and well painted with named scenes of mythological subjects. The handles gilt and all of high quality . Well painted figure subjects of this type are very saleable and considerably rarer than simple floral studies.
Spode 1965
A limited edition covered vase of reasonable quality with a wealth of detail about Sir Winston Churchill’s life and honours. Like most commemorative wares liable to violent ups and downs in price but, being one of only 125, probably with a good chance of survival.
Swansea Vase 1819.
A rare pair of spill vases entertainingly painted with oriental influenced deer in panels reserved on a flower-painted ground. These vases are of additional interest in that they bear the initials MM, probably those of the painter Mary Moggridge, and the date 1819. Without initials and date.
Wedgwood 1920’s.
A pair of mottled pale blue-ground vases with gilt and mottled purple dragons above waves. Not being decorated with fairies, they are relatively inexpensive.
Antique Wedgwood Vase 1920’s
A pair of vases with plum and gilt dragons against a pale runny blue ground. The pale ground make the dragons better delineated than usual with a higher price. Pairs of these are much less common than singles but, in contradiction to normal practice, little more expensive.
Wedgwood Vase 1920’s
This print of a fairy is not common and when seen is rarely well coloured and registered. As can be seen her dress is blurred and the whole rather too dark. A good clear design could fetch.
A fine vase with good registration of the gilding over bright colours.
Printed vase and name.
An exceptionally large piece of Fairyland and with very bright coloration. This particular shape is rare.
A well-matched pair of fairyland vases with a complicated but accurately registered design of a snake round a tree and dreamlike happenings in bright enamels and gilding.
Wedgwood c.1930.
Coloured butterflies against mottled blue ground. As with the dragons lustre not expensive compared with the Fairyland. Given the same size, any other form of vase with the same design would be about the same price.
Worcester, Flight, Barr and Barr. 1820
A fine covered vase painted with shells on one side and flowers on the other, probably by Thomas Baxter. The ground deep blue with gilt scrolls and handles.
Worcester, Flight, Barr and Barr.
A blue ground vase with a panel of Faith and with gilt details. The religious subject is against the piece making as much as a landscape. Pair of Faith and Hope . Pair with landscapes.
Worcester, Flight, Barr and Barr Vase .
A vase and cover with gilt snake handles and a blue ground painted with a panel of an exotic bird in a landscape by ‘Dr.’ George Davis. Single with damaged handles. A clean break at the junction of socle and body is not uncommon and does not affect the price by more than about 10%.
Worcester, Flight, Barr and Barr.
An urn with deep blue ground painted with a panel of flowers.
Antique Worcester, Flight, Barr and Barr. 1830.
A vase and cover with a panel of Clio within a beaded border on a green ground supported on the heads of three gilt mermen, one of whom lacks wings. Perfect example. Without matching cover.
Worcester Kerr and Birtns Vase 1858.
A high quality pair of vases painted in grey with tided portraits of classical authors, the rest with Tooled gilding. Kerr and Binns period Worcester is underpriced at the moment, probably because there is too little of it about to generate a strong market.
Royal Worcester Porcelain 1862.
A pair of vases and covers painted in white enamel by Thomas Bott a turquoise ground. Lacking covers.
Royal Worcester Vase 1863.
A rare parian piece with unusual pink, purple, brown and green coloration picked out in gilding. Good quality but not the most attractive of objects. Nor of a much collected period. A pair would be more desirable to the decorators.
Royal Worcester 1866.
A fine Vase with a deep blue ground enamelled in white by Thomas Bott with putti in ‘Limoges Style*. Such pieces are rare and much sought after, his work being exhibited from 1851 to 1870 when he died. Not to be confused with his son, T.J. Bott, who also worked at Worcester c. 1870-1885 in the same style as his father.
Royal Worcester 1867. Impressed and printed crowned circle, one with date code.
A comparison showing the same shape treated in different ways. The example on the left with coloured flowers, gut borders, turquoise medallions and white beads, the other with pale apricot ground and gilt borders, much less desirable. It is worth comparing also the sharpness of the moulding on the example on the left with the other.
Royal Worcester 1872 with printed crowned circle mark and dated 1872
A good pair of Japanese-taste vases after James Hadley with the portraits tinted against a bronzed ground by James Callowhill, the handles and feet also with bronzing and gilding. These and other vases in similar style were exhibited at the London International Exhibition of 1871-72 and were illustrated in the Art Journal Catalogue. The standard of production is very high and this, combined with their period interest, would seem to indicate a likely rapid increase in price.
Royal Worcester Vase 1874.
One of Hadley’s Japanese series with ivory-tinted body and sombre but very well executed coloration.
Tags: 19th century, ANTIQUE, antique porcelain, ceramic design, Figure, garniture, london international, M.L.Solon, mark, minton, Moore Vase, ORIENTAL, pompadour, porcelain body, porcelain vase, Porcelain Vases, potash, printed name, ROCKINGHAM, Royal, royal worcester, ruby, Spode, Swansea, Wedgwood, Worcester