No old chestnut
- willa
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
As I have been busy with a project and been travelling a lot in recent months, I hope you forgive me for repeating a post from a while ago that was appreciated by many. It is, after all, the perfect season for it. This beautiful item has been standing on my shelf for a while, but I never tire of looking at it (and have kept the odd receipt and rubber band inside while waiting for a new forever home...). Made with so much skill and care, it still looks fresh and new every single day.
No old chestnut
I am talking about a very special item made in Worcester around the year 1770. This is a "chestnut basket", consisting of a pierced basket on a stand and with a pierced cover. These baskets were used during dessert to serve hot chestnuts. In the 18th and early 19th Century, dessert did not consist of ice cream or cake the way it often does today; it was all themed around fruit, nuts and chestnuts, sometimes with crumble or lots of cream or fruit compote.
The reason these chestnut baskets are always pierced is that this way, the steam of the hot chestnuts could escape, preventing them from becoming soggy. Creating pierced porcelain is incredibly time consuming, and the slightest mistake can ruin a piece, so these items were expensive and they are therefore quite rare today. Some baskets only have a pierced cover, and the walls of the basket are faux pierced; but this one is pierced all around, which probably made it more expensive to produce.
Appliqué flowers...
As is usual for the Worcester chestnut baskets, this one has beautiful appliqué flowers, and very charming branches for handles. The body of the basket is also covered with little puce and yellow flowers all over. Sometimes these baskets come in simple blue and white, and sometimes they have only a limited number of colours or flowers; this set, however, is exceptionally colourful.
... and painted flowers
Have a look also at the beautiful bouquet of flowers on the stand, painted in the European tradition, before the British potters developed their uniquely British way of paining flowers.
As good as new
While these pierced items often have quite a lot of damage, this set is in near-perfect condition, with only the usual small losses to the flowers. The stand, basket and cover are all without any structural damage, and the handles have also never been damaged or repaired.
Where to find things
You can find this wonderful item here in my shop, alongside lots of other interesting vessels. 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 weekend everyone, and enjoy some chestnuts! 🌰🌰🌰
This week's treasures:
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