A pair of English pearlware cups & saucers with an Oriental motif. The cups are 2-1/4″ tall and the saucers are 5-3/4″ in diameter
The orange transferware decoration of a Chinese man jumping rope is embellished with over painted highlights in pink, yellow, blue and green.
Three out of four pieces are broken and repaired with metal staples
Although these staples are not attractive to most people, they certainly do the trick in keeping the broken pieces intact
Chinese export porcelain barrel form mug with cobalt blue underglaze Nanking decoration, measuring 5″ high. As this mug is the perfect size and shape for holding pencils, it sits on my home office desk as a pencil cup.
Visible cracks with metal staple repairs are seen all around the mug.
The rich cobalt blue underglaze decoration includes this beautifully rendered building.
This mug is a lucky survivor of much abuse over the past 240 years, as is evident from the various cracks, chips and a missing handle.
I have only seen a few examples of metal replacement handles covered in woven wire with a pattern emulating rattan.
Metal staples, painted white and blue to blend in to the glazed decoration, still hold the cracks tightly together.
This mug with similar form has its original handle, with a blue heart-shaped thumb rest, intact.
Photo courtesy of Earle D. Vandekar
This 6″ diameter Biarritz plate was made in England by Clarice Cliff in the Taormina pattern, introduced in 1935. The art deco design was inspired by the small town of Taomina, on the east coast of Sicily, Italy.
These five large brass staples still hold the plate tightly together. I believe this is the newest piece I own with staple repairs, as most of my other examples date up to the early 1900’s.
Clarice Cliff was born in England in 1899 and died in 1972, working as an industrial artist for 41 years. She was quite prolific and became one of the most important art deco ceramic designers of the 20th century.
I found this large tin glazed earthenware olive oil jug at a tiny gem of an antique shop in Seville, Spain. While looking for a restaurant open for dinner before 10PM, we stumbled upon the shop, tucked away on a small side street. As the lovely Spanish shop owner spoke very little English and I barely speak any Spanish, we had a challenging but fun time communicating and bargaining.
I love the simple shape of this jug, which stands nearly 12″ tall…
as well as the slightly askew applied handle and beautiful green color.
The entire bottom of the jug is held together with large metal rivets.
Iconic white feldspathic stoneware 4-3/4″ high teapot from Castleford, England, has neoclassical relief and applied decoration with blue enamel detail. Originally designed by Dunderdale & Co. in 1800, many manufactures in the same region made their own version inspired by the original.
This teapot has survived 200 years of despair and repair.
The unique sliding lid, which had the same scalloped edge detail as the pot, seems to have slid off on to the floor and has been replaced by a brass lid, some time in the mid-1800’s.
The tip of the spout was also damaged and a metal sleeve now covers the broken spout.
There are even a few staples holding a crack together, making this an unusual example of an item with three inventive repairs made from three different materials.
An early paper label and an incised “22” are mark found on the bottom.
This example with eagle decoration and made for the American market maintains its original lid and spout.
Photo courtesy of Martyn Edgell Antiques
I purchased this 7-3/4″ dessert plate about 20 years ago at a now, sadly departed antique china shop on Greenwich Avenue in NYC. There is nothing extraordinary about this piece, except that it reminded me of my parents collection of Chinese export porcelain, filling a wood hutch and corner cabinet in our dining room.
Beautifully detailed mille-fleur (“thousand flower”) design, rendered in the famille rose pallette, incorporates blossoming peonies, chrysanthemums, lotus flowers, morning glories, hibiscus, roses, daisies and lilies.
The lush border is filled with a variety of birds and butterflies.
This plate was cherished, even after it became broken and was repaired with five metal staples on the back.
These cracks are tightly held in place with staples attached well over 100 years ago.
A Chinese export porcelain chestnut basket, measuring 6-3/4″ long and 2-1/2″ high, and decorated with a classic cobalt blue Nanking design.
Baskets such as these with pierced sides were used for fruit, so air could better circulate around the contents. They also had molded porcelain handles, gilded to look like they were made of metal.
How ironic that when the original porcelain “metal” handles broke off, they were replace with actual metal handles.
Metal staples and bolts were also used to help put this piece back together.
This basket in perfect condition, showing original gilt porcelain handles.
Photo courtesy of WorthPoint
This large Chinese porcelain mug from the Qianlong (pronounced SHEEN-LOONG) period is from the mid-1700’s and is decorated in the Mandarin style with polychrome enamels.
Mug measures 5-3/4″ high and has a finely painted courtyard scene, wrapping around three sides.
I love when there are multiple repairs on one object and this mug boasts three different types of inventive repair, including an incised bronze collar to mask chips along the rim.
A wicker wrapped bronze replacement handle stands in for the long lost original porcelain handle. Just below the brass collar are metal staples which stabilize a vertical crack.
The original handle was simply shaped, much like the one pictured below.
Photo courtesy of Guest & Gray
I found this large soft paste bowl while vacationing in Kerala, India and carried it on my lap during the long flight home. I was hoping to find other antiques with interesting repairs throughout my travels to central and southern India, but I mostly found just broken ceramic pieces with chips, cracks and no repairs. But I am sure India is filled with more many examples of wonderfully repaired antiques and I look forward to finding some of them when I return.
Bowl measures 10″ in diameter and is 4-1/2″ high.
A large chip on the rim has been covered up with a tin cuff and a long crack has been secured by means of a brass strap and rivets.
I believe this to be an English example of Gaudy Dutch ware, with a boldly painted variation of the “King’s Rose” pattern. Please see a coffee pot I posted earlier with a similar pattern.
When I see multiple repairs on the same piece made from different materials, I am led to believe that the damage and subsequent repairs were done at different times.
