Chelsea Porcelain Reticulated Dessert Dishes, Pair, Gold Anchor Period, Circa 1760

Details

Description

Chelsea Porcelain Reticulated Dessert Dishes, Pair, Gold Anchor Period, Circa 1760
Circa 1760

This pair of Chelsea porcelain dessert dishes … Read more Chelsea Porcelain Reticulated Dessert Dishes, Pair, Gold Anchor Period, Circa 1760
Circa 1760

This pair of Chelsea porcelain dessert dishes was made in London around 1760, in the gold anchor years when the factory was at its most ambitious. Each dish has a deep pierced border of interlacing ovals that reads like porcelain lace, its scalloped edge picked out with a thin line of gilding, and a well painted with a loose, off-center bouquet of garden flowers with a scatter of little sprigs. One bouquet is built around a purple aster and a fringed iron-red flower, the other around a pink rose with a spike of iron-red blossom above it, so the two dishes are clearly companions without being copies of each other.

The openwork is what makes them. Cutting a lattice this deep through soft-paste porcelain by hand and then getting it through the kiln without sagging was a real feat in 1760, and a pair that has come down with every strand intact and the gilding still bright is not easy to find. One dish carries the small gold anchor mark.

They are small enough to live almost anywhere. Hung with plate hangers against a colored wall, the piercing throws a pattern of light and shadow and the white lattice stands out beautifully. They also make a lovely pair on a mantel or bookshelf, sit well on a bedside table for rings and small things, or can be used as they were meant to be, for a few chocolates or macarons at the end of a dinner.


(Ref: NY6009-nrrr) See less