On offer is a very fine small porcelain campana vase made around the year 1820 by an unknown Staffordshire potter. The vase has a beautiful delicate salmon coloured ground, rich gilding and a sublimely hand painted flower reserves on the front.
In the early 19th Century there were at some point about 300 potteries in Staffordshire, which at the time was one of the biggest centres of porcelain industry in the world. This item is probably from one of those factories, but the shape is slightly unusual and we don't know who made it. However, this little vase is made to the highest standard and in very fine condition.
The shape of this vase is called the "campana" shape and it was very popular in the Regency era in the early 19th Century. The word campana is derived of the Italian word for "field" and the reason is that these vases are shaped like an up side down church bell. Church bells were used to ring out over the fields to tell farm workers the time, and therefore were associated with the word for field.
The vase is lightly potted in very perfect bone china. The shape is a little unusual: it is thinner and the rim moves out wider than is usual for most of the known shapes of that time. The vase has a very pale salmon ground colour with cobalt blue details and a little periwinkle coloured flower in the neck. On the front is a white reserve with exquisitely painted flowers. The vase has beautiful gilding throughout and two simple handles on either side.
The vase is unmarked except the pattern number 114.
CONDITION REPORT The vase is in perfect antique condition without any damage, repairs, crazing or significant wear.
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 vase is 12cm high (4.75") and 11cm (4.25") wide incl. the handles.
