Making a wave
These vases are making a wave! Made by Samuel Alcock in the early to mid 1820s, they are of the "wave edge" shape, and these are exceptionally fine ones. These vases are rare; the Samuel Alcock factory was still relatively new to making porcelain and production numbers weren't huge yet.
It is clear, however, that Alcock was able to hire some top quality decorators; you can see that both the paintings and the gilding are superb. This rather strange but elegant shape was something typical of the height of the Regency period, when the fashion followed the eccentric and spendthrift Prince Regent and no amount of flowers or gilt was considered too much.
Until I came across these beauties in the collection of Murray Pollinger, I had never seen this shape. Nor had I seen such carefully decorated Samuel Alcock items. Murray had a great eye for the high quality items, and he must have bought every good vase he came across - there are a few more that will come out later this year.
Three of these form a "garniture" together, probably meant to grace a chimney piece. One is unique in that it has a very fine rustic landscape painted all around, with two little figures visiting a medieval ruin in a beautiful landscape with trees, a lake and a stately home. One other is unique in that it has a Chinoiserie decoration entirely in tooled gilt, which is a technique that was not often done at the Alcock factory.
This makes all of these vases extremely rare... and they are now for sale as part of the Murray Pollinger collection.
Where to find things
You can find all my available stock here. If you always want to see the latest additions, follow me on Instagram... I post pictures and a story several times a week.
Happy new year to everyone, and make a wave this year!
The wave-edge vases:
