Description:
English delft chimney vase decorated in light and dark blue over a light blue glaze with pink undertone. This beaker-shaped vase, which has a wide flared rim, straight round shaft, and plain molded flared base, may have been part of a garniture set (ornamented mantelpieces and tops of large pieces of case furniture) that usually included two beakers and three covered jars, as copied from the Chinese export porcelain five-piece garniture sets. Colonial Williamsburg owns three matched pieces (a covered jar and two vases); no five-piece delftware garniture set survives. In addition to their decorative function, vases from these sets also held flowers for display. A trade card for the London china merchant John Morris depicts a garniture with alternate vases filled with flowers and leaves. A similar use is seen in the print "December" (London, 1784), printed and sold by publisher, print and map seller Carington Bowles (1724-1793), in which sprigs of holly fill the vases. The outside lip is decorated with clouds over flocks of flying birds. One side has a man wearing a tricorn hat over a wig and holding a stick escorting a woman in panniers, an archaic form of 17th century dress, flanked by tall, spindly light and dark blue sponged trees and foliage; two buildings are in the distance on the opposite side, all over two blue bands around the base. This scene resembles that on a English delft bowl dated 1752 illustrated in Lipski and Archer.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2001.30 |
