Regency Porcelain Mazarine Blue and Botanical Footed Tazza

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Opulence in Porcelain: Regency Mazarine Blue and Botanical Footed Tazza
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This is an exceptionally striking English Porcelain Footed Tazza … Read more Opulence in Porcelain: Regency Mazarine Blue and Botanical Footed Tazza
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This is an exceptionally striking English Porcelain Footed Tazza (or comport), dating to the height of the British Regency Period. This large serving dish is a masterwork of complex design, lavish hand-painting, and heavy gilding.
The tazza's elegant, boat-shaped (or lozenge) bowl is raised on a substantial, shaped foot, giving it the architectural quality favored in Regency design.

• Color Ground: The decoration is defined by the extensive use of mazarine blue—a deep, rich cobalt color applied as a ground (or background) on both the interior and exterior of the bowl.

• Gilding and Reserve Panels: The mazarine blue sections are ornately decorated with rich gilt daisy flower-head motifs and intricate foliate patterns (often known as "fan" or "feather" gilding). This opulent blue is interrupted by several large, white, shaped reserve panels.

• Botanical Painting: Within the white reserves, and dominating the central well, are spectacular, exuberantly painted floral bouquets. These feature large, blowsy roses, poppies, and smaller wildflowers rendered in a vibrant polychrome palette. Each panel is crisply separated by fine gilt line borders.

This piece would have served as the central feature of a wealthy host's elaborate dessert service.

• Origin: England (likely a major Staffordshire or Shropshire factory, such as Coalport or Spode, known for this style)
• Date: circa 1820 (Regency Period)
• Style: Regency/Neoclassical Opulence
• Material: High-Quality Porcelain, Mazarine Blue Enamel, Extensive Hand-Gilding, and Polychrome Enamels
• Dimensions: 6 inches (15.24 cm) High x 12 3/4 inches (32.39 cm) Long x 7 3/4 inches (19.69 cm) Deep

Historical Context: The Apex of Dessert Presentation
The early 19th century in England saw an unprecedented peak in the extravagance of the dessert course, and the tazza was the most important piece in this presentation.

Regency Grandeur
Manufactured around 1820, this comport perfectly embodies the Regency style—an era defined by lavish excess, especially following the Napoleonic Wars. The combination of deep, costly cobalt blue (mazarine blue) with heavy, ornate gilding and fine hand-painting required complex and expensive production, appealing directly to the aristocratic and newly rich gentry. This "royal blue" ground, contrasted with white panels, often took inspiration from the most luxurious Sèvres or Meissen porcelain services, or the bold colors of Japanese Imari wares.

The Dessert Service
A complete Regency dessert service included many of these footed comports (tazzas), various-sized plates, and shaped dishes, arranged symmetrically down the center of the table. The function of the tazza was to elevate fruit, sweetmeats, and confectioneries, turning the dessert table into a spectacular, theatrical landscape.

References
• Godden, Geoffrey A. Coalport and Coalbrookdale Porcelains. Barrie & Jenkins, 1970. (For context on factories like Coalport known for elaborate, heavily gilded dessert wares in this period)

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