Pair of Vintage Mid-Century Ceramic Boxer Dog Busts

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A charming pair of mid-century ceramic busts, likely from the 1950s or 1960s, featuring sculpted boxer dog heads with upright … Read more A charming pair of mid-century ceramic busts, likely from the 1950s or 1960s, featuring sculpted boxer dog heads with upright cropped ears, expressive wrinkled brows, and painted eyes. Each is finished in a high-gloss glaze with warm airbrushed shading, darker black and grey accents on the muzzle and ears, and a cream neck. Both pieces are hollow slip-cast earthenware with glazed white undersides and a round opening in each base.

Look closely and notice that the two are subtly different in pose and paint. I have listed them as decorative items rather than bookends because they are quite lightweight. The openings in each base were likely originally for weights that could help them hold up a heavy row of books. As is, they could probably support a small lightweight groups of books, and would look great on their own on a shelf, mantle, or table.

They are unmarked, and the maker is unknown. They resemble other ceramic bookends from Italy and Japan from the period, but I do not know for sure where they were produced. I would guess Italy given their large number of high quality exports of ceramics in the 1950s and 1960s.

They are in good vintage condition with no obvious chips or cracks to the heads. There is light wear and some surface marks and discoloration to the unglazed base rims and undersides, consistent with age and use.

A wonderful find for boxer lovers and collectors of vintage ceramics. See less