Antique Irwin and Lane Chinoiserie Bas-Relief Mason's Ironstone Pitcher

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The eighteenth-century fascination with all things Asian — generally a dreamlike version of China conjured by artists and designers who … Read more The eighteenth-century fascination with all things Asian — generally a dreamlike version of China conjured by artists and designers who had never traveled there — swiftly trickled down the social ladder, from European royalty to England's growing middle class. Mason's Ironstone, a hugely popular Staffordshire pottery founded in 1813 by Charles James Mason, answered the call of this enduring fashion by producing stylish household articles with all the requisite cultural references. This exquisitely proportioned, beautifully balanced pitcher or jug, manufactured in a pale sage green, is exquisitely modeled with floral and fauna. Cherry blossoms and peonies in full bloom rise from a garden studded with ornamental rockwork and crisscrossed by a bamboo fence. Mythological phoenix-like birds, known as fenghuang, perch on branches, while smaller feathered friends alight on what appear to be stylized conifers. The handle, in the form of a grinning serpent executing a backflip, acrobatically attaches itself to one side of the six-sided vessel. Note that the vintage paper label on the bottom of the jug, affixed by a previous collector, is incorrect; the transfer-printed angular crown factory mark was used by Mason's Ironstone from 1830 until 1848. See less