This is a spectacular garniture of three vases made by an English factory between 1810 and 1815. The vases are made in the French Empire style with heavily gilded Egyptian caryatid scroll handles, exceptionally beautiful flower reserves on the front, the back in a pale salmon colour with gilt details, and a square cobalt blue foot.
These vases have provenance; they came from the personal collection of Geoffrey A. Godden, the highly respected porcelain expert and author of dozens of books. Godden believed they were made by Ridgway and a colour picture of the middle vase is the frontispiece to Godden's book "Ridgway Porcelains", however more recent research has shown that these vases were not made by Ridgway. It is a mystery who made them but they are of a very high quality.
The vases are unmarked as was common at the time, but they have the pattern number 115 and the middle vase still has the remains of Geoffrey Godden's label on it.
CONDITION REPORT The vases are in very good antique condition. The middle vase has had an invisible professional repair to the foot and there is some wear throughout, please study the pictures carefully. All three vases have a screw in the bottom and therefore cannot hold water.
Antique British porcelain is never perfect. Kilns were fired on coal in the 1800s, and this meant that china from that period can have some firing specks from flying particles. British makers were also known for their experimentation, and sometimes this resulted in technically imperfect results. Due to the shrinkage in the kiln, items can have small firing lines or develop crazing over time, which should not be seen as damage but as an imperfection of the maker's recipes, probably unknown at the time of making. Items have often been used for many years and can have normal signs of wear, and gilt can have signs of slight disintegration even if never handled. I will reflect any damage, repairs, obvious stress marks, crazing or heavy wear in the item description but some minor scratches, nicks, stains and gilt disintegration can be normal for vintage items and need to be taken into account.
There is widespread confusion on the internet about the difference between chips and nicks, or hairlines and cracks. I will reflect any damage as truthfully as I can, i.e. a nick is a tiny bit of damage smaller than 1mm and a chip is something you can easily see with the eye; a glazing line is a break in the glazing only; hairline is extremely tight and/or superficial and not picked up by the finger; and a crack is obvious both to the eye and the finger. Etcetera - I try to be as accurate as I can and please feel free to ask questions or request more detailed pictures!
DIMENSIONS: the tallest vase is 26cm (10.25") high, the shorter vases are 22cm (8.75") high.
