English Imari Porcelain Potpourri Vase and Cover, Possibly Coalport, Circa 1820-35

Details

Description

Few things carry a room the way a good Imari vase does, and this one has the scale to do … Read more Few things carry a room the way a good Imari vase does, and this one has the scale to do it. Standing just over fourteen inches high, the vase is painted on both sides with peonies and flowering branches spilling over a zigzag garden fence, in the iron-red, deep blue, and gold palette that English porcelain makers borrowed from Japan and made entirely their own during the Regency. A wash of salmon runs across the foreground, flecked with tiny gilt grasses, and a trellis band in soft underglaze blue circles the shoulder.

Gilt animal-mask handles sit at either side, and the domed cover — pierced so that the scent of dried petals drifts out — lifts off beneath a gold knop finial. It is a genuinely useful object as well as a decorative one.

Set it on a mantel between a pair of lamps, at the center of a console in an entry hall, or on a dining sideboard where the orange and gold read beautifully against dark wood. The palette is warmer than most blue-and-white and plays well with rust, ochre, faded reds, and natural linen; against a pale wall it becomes the single point of color the room needs. A vase like this also earns its place beside contemporary furniture, where the gilding keeps it from reading as fussy.

Unmarked, as most Coalport of this date is. Circa 1820–1835.

Dimensions:
Height: 14¼ inches (36.2 cm)
Width: 11 inches (27.9 cm)
Depth: 7½ inches (19.1 cm)

Condition: Good condition with no restoration. The gilt band at the top of the rim with very minor rubbing.

Ref: NY11217-amrx See less