19th Century English Porcelain Cachepot Vases, Set of 2

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Height: 20 - 20.5 cm; Diameter: 21.2 - 21 cm; Weight: 2.323 - 2.142 kg

Pair of cobalt blue jasperware … Read more Height: 20 - 20.5 cm; Diameter: 21.2 - 21 cm; Weight: 2.323 - 2.142 kg

Pair of cobalt blue jasperware cachepots with white cameo reliefs, manufactured in Staffordshire, in the Wedgwood style at the end of the 19th century. The vases are made using the jasper dip technique: a fine, white, unglazed ceramic body is coated with a thin layer of intense blue-colored clay, onto which the white reliefs are applied by hand, molded, and finished with great precision. The result is a deep, opaque background, a rich, uniform blue, which vividly highlights the whiteness of the decorations. Each vase weighs approximately 2.2 kilograms, a testament to the solidity, thickness, and quality of the material used. The shape is the classic cachepot, with a rounded rim, a slightly tapered body, and a stepped base finished with thin white fillets. The decoration unfolds in a continuous frieze in neoclassical style: winged cherubs play the double flute and the Pan flute, one holding a bundle of torches while another leans on a column with the flute. The scene is enlivened by oak and maple trees with lush foliage, urns filled with flowers, a lyre, a pair of doves, and a small dog. Below the rim runs a frieze of stylized waves, recognizable as a Greek-inspired motif, elegantly completing the composition. Among the most notable aspects are the sharpness of the relief, the finesse of the foliage, the perfect coordination of the pair, and the uniform, matte patina of the blue, which time has left soft and natural. The interior is a cream ceramic body, and the base lacks a legible factory mark, featuring a small circular dot and an impressed numeric sign. The absence of a mark prevents the vases from being definitively attributed to Wedgwood, but the type, quality of the relief, and frieze pattern are fully consistent with late-19th-century Staffordshire jasper dip production, a tradition shared by several manufacturers, including, in addition to the famous Wedgwood, William Adams of Tunstall and Dudson of Hanley. See less