Posts Tagged ‘miniature’

Miniature “clobbered” teapot, c.1700

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

A tiny Chinese porcelain teapot made during the Kangxi period (1662-1722) combining three of my favorite things: inventive repair, miniatures and clobbering. It’s hard to tell what the original 1700’s underglaze decoration was, as the multi color & gilt overglaze decoration of dragons & flowers extends over the entire surface.

Clobbered in the early 1800s to satisfy the demand for more colorful pottery of the times, this small teapot stands 4-3/4″ tall.

There is a hole connecting the spout to the body, as well as a tiny hole in the lid for steam to escape, confirming this to be a functioning miniature.

This piece has travelled much over the past 220 years, as it was originally made in China, exported to Europe, clobbered most likely in Holland, landed in Scotland with a collector and ended up with me in America!

The replaced metal handle has been painted to match the body. See an earlier post, “Globular Chinese export teapot, c.1750”, with a similarly painted handle.

Typical pseudo Oriental marks were painted on bottom at the time of the clobbering to add “authenticity”.

This miniature clobbered teapot of similar form shows what the original handle on my teapot might have looked like.

27016

 

Photo courtesy of Grays

Child’s pearlware tea set, c.1820

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Little girls were given fragile miniature tea sets such as this one, to practice their homemaking skills and to prepare themselves to become good wives, mothers and hostesses. This drabware soft past pottery set from the early 1800’s was made in England.

The teapot, with replacement metal handle & strap, measures 3-1/2″ tall.

I feel badly for the little girl who accidently broke the teapot, but I am glad her parents took it to their local tinsmith to be repaired, so it could one day end up in my collection.

Miniature salt glaze stoneware jug, c.1840

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

I love miniatures and was really excited to find this tiny two-toned floral sprigged pottery jug, made in Derbyshire, England in the mid-1800’s.

This little jug stands a mere 2″ tall and is made of stoneware with a salt glazed finish, which was fired at a high temperature to insure a glass-like, non-porous surface.

The original handle was replaced with an over scaled tin handle & strap, looking a bit out of proportion on this small jug.

This is what the original jug handle might have looked like had it not broken off.

Photo courtesy of eBay

Chinese export miniatures, c.1690

Friday, March 12th, 2010

A pair of Chinese export porcelain dollhouse miniatures with blue underglaze decoration from the Kangxi period (1662-1722) with Dutch hallmarked silver mounts from the mid-1800’s.

Once the neck broke off this vase, it became a ewer, standing 2″ high with its replacement handle and spout.

A tiny Dutch hallmark in the shape of a sword can be seen on the bottom of the replaced silver neck. Between the years 1814 and 1905, sword marks were used on pieces too small to accommodate full hallmarks.

The remains of the broken porcelain vase’s neck are obscured by the silver replacement top but can still be seen looking down through the opening.

The other broken vase became a bottle, standing a mere 1″ high.

The broken top was masked by the addition of a beautifully engraved silver cap, with scalloped edge and stippled decoration.

Miniatures such as these were displayed in doll houses owned by wealthy individuals and were not intended to be played with by children.

This is what the miniatures looked like before they became damaged and their appearances altered.

Photo courtesy of China de Commande