porcelain « Past Imperfect, The Art of Inventive Repair

Posts Tagged ‘porcelain’

Minton Bute shape cup, c.1810

Sunday, December 4th, 2016

This bone china Bute shape tea cup is decorated with two-tone blue flowers, puce tendrils, gilt foliage and bands. Measuring 2.25 inches high with an opening of 3.25 inches, it was made by Minton in Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England, in the early 1800s. The Minton mark and pattern number 76 is handwritten in blue on the underside.

When this delicate cup slipped from the hands of a previous owner, unusual symmetrical breaks resulted. It was most likely reassembled by an itinerant china mender in the 1800s who used nine brass staples to put the four porcelain puzzle pieces back in place. The integration of the staples, along with the existing floral motif, create an unexpected and exciting new pattern.

This tea cup with matching saucer is shown without staples.

Photo courtesy of WorthPoint

Tags:English, porcelain, staples/rivets
Posted in cup/saucer | 5 Comments »

Chinese jug with pewter handle, c.1775

Sunday, November 20th, 2016

This porcelain cream jug with baluster form and a sparrow beak spout was made in China during the Qianlong period (1736-96.) It is decorated in the Famille Rose palette and measures 4 inches high and is about 4 inches wide. The floral swag decoration suggests it was made for the French market.

I can just imagine a French maid in the early 1800s, clearing the breakfast table, grabbing this little jug with fingers still dripping with butter from making croissants, and letting it slip and tumble to the ground. Sadly, the cover and handle must have broken into too many pieces to repair, so a tinker was engaged and created a pewter replacement handle. Not sure if the shattered cover or the maid with shattered nerves were ever replaced.

This jug with similar form and decoration shows what the the original handle and cover on mine looked like before it took a tumble.

Photo courtesy of Andrew Dando

Tags:Chinese, French, metal handle, porcelain, Qianlong
Posted in jug | No Comments »

Pair of Famille Rose dragons cups, c.1890

Sunday, November 6th, 2016

This pair of unmarked Chinese porcelain cups from the Guangxu period (1875-1908) are nicely decorated in the Famille Rose palette with peach trees, dragons chasing flaming pearls, and koi fish in waves. Each measures nearly 2.75 inches high and 4 inches in diameter.

It’s hard to tell if the bronze handles, most likely added in the early 1900s, were replacement handles or if they were attached to transform handless bowls into drinking cups.

Finding pairs of inventive repairs is uncommon and I am always on the lookout for more examples. In the coming weeks I will show other pairs from my collection so stay tuned.

Tags:Chinese, metal handle, porcelain
Posted in bowl/dish, cup/saucer | No Comments »

Chinese mug with multiple repairs, c.1750

Saturday, October 22nd, 2016

This bell-shaped footed porcelain mug was made in China in the mid 1700s. It has floral decoration in the Famille Rose palette and stands 5.5 inches tall.

It appears that someone literally loved this mug to pieces. I imagine that the person who dropped it must have been heartbroken, watching it tumble to the ground where it suffered multiple breaks, chips, and cracks. The early metal repairs, done over 150 years ago, included a band along the rim to stabilize cracks, braces on the handle, and rivets to reinforce four symmetrical chips. Much how time can mend a broken heart, a skilled restorer did an excellent yet eccentric job with this mug break-up.

Tags:Chinese, metal rim, porcelain, staples/rivets
Posted in mug/tankard | 1 Comment »

Chinese teapot with butterflies, c.1780

Sunday, September 18th, 2016

This porcelain globular-form footed teapot was made in China in the late 1700s and is decorated in the famille rose palette with flowers, butterflies, and a diaper pattern border along the rim and on the lid. It measures 4 inches high.

A sturdy metal spout stands at attention, replacing the original porcelain one that was damaged. At a later date, a metal chain was attached to keep the lid from going astray. I have numerous metal replacement spouts just like this and feel that repairers had a stock of them on hand to be attached to damaged teapots. Look for an upcoming post where I compare and contrast similarly made replacement spouts.

This teapot, with similar form and decoration, shows what the original spout on mine may have looked like.

Photo courtesy of 1stdibs

Tags:Chinese, metal spout, porcelain, silver
Posted in teapot | 1 Comment »

Chinese bowl for “Mifs Cox”, c.1740

Saturday, July 30th, 2016

This Chinese bowl, which measures 2.75 inches high and 5.75 inches diameter, is decorated with flowers, pagodas, and bridges in the Japanese Imari style and palette. It was made for export to Europe in the early to mid 1700s with just the blue underglaze decoration, but soon after arriving, it was overpainted in red and gold to keep up with the public’s new demand for colorful porcelain. This method of overpainting is often referred to as clobbering.

You may wonder why I am featuring a bowl that appears to have had its broken halves merely glued together. But the “Mifs Cox” red mark on the underside – she was most likely the original owner of the bowl – gives insight into how the bowl was repaired. An early form of ceramic repair practiced in England during the late 1700s to middle 1800s was called “china burning,” in which broken ceramics were re-fired at a low temperature, causing the broken pieces to fuse together. The most renowned china burner was Edward Combes of Queen Street, Bristol, who signed his pieces on the underside in red script, similarly to the mark on this bowl. I have a few examples of pieces repaired and signed by Combes and will post them in the coming months.

Tags:Chinese, clobbered, porcelain
Posted in bowl/dish | 3 Comments »

Low Chelsea ewer with Gorham silver handle, c.1785

Sunday, July 24th, 2016

This porcelain Low Chelsea ewer shape cream jug with spiral molding was made by New Hall in London, c.1785. The floral spray decoration is hand painted in polychrome enamels. It measures 2.5 inches high and 4.75 inches from lip to handle.

A lovely jug indeed, but what I find so special is the rare replacement handle, which was added about 100 years after the jug was made. Perhaps a descendant of the original owner, who must have been quite well off and engaged the services of John Gorham of Providence, Rhode Island, to fashion a custom sterling silver replacement handle. I own and treasure just a handful of hallmarked silver repairs, but this is the first piece I have encountered with an American hallmark, which pinpoints the repair to 1880.

Here’s an example with similar form showing what the original handle on mine might have looked like.

Photo courtesy of Bonhams

Tags:English, metal handle, porcelain, silver
Posted in jug | 1 Comment »

Meissen teapot, c.1770

Thursday, June 23rd, 2016

This hard paste porcelain teapot was made at the Meissen factory in Germany during the Marconi Period (1763 – 1774). It measures 4.5 inches high and 8 inches from handle to spout. It is decorated in polychrome overglaze enamels with a flower motif on both sides of the pot and on top of the lid. A cobalt mark of crossed swords and a dot can be found on the underside. The noticeable surface wear suggests that it was well loved and heavily used over the past 250 years.

You can guess that this teapot found its way into my collection due to its nicely done silver replacement spout. Repairs such as this were commonly done on spouts, as they were prone to chipping. This teapot was owned by a former French teacher at my high school who lives in Brussels and has been an early supporter of this blog. Merci beaucoup, Marienne!

This teapot with similar form and decoration still as its original spout intact.

Photo courtesy of LiveAuctioneers

Tags:German, metal spout, porcelain, silver
Posted in teapot | No Comments »

The Kingman Tavern Museum mystery

Saturday, June 11th, 2016

In the small hamlet of Cummington, Massachusetts, home of the esteemed ceramics gallery Ferrin Contemporary, sits the Kingman Tavern Museum, a small historical museum overflowing with antiques of local interest, donated mainly by the town’s residents. The collection includes a full scale replica of an early 1900s country store, miniature rooms by artist Alice Steele, and vintage clothes, tools, and household items. Among them is a curious set of porcelain plates riddled with early staple repairs.

On a shelf sitting alongside a handful of innocuous-looking plates and tableware are two stacks of thick walled bowls and platters, each with pronounced staple repairs. The cobalt blue stylized rabbit pattern is unfamiliar to me but appears to be American, late 19th century, and perhaps restaurant china. No one associated with the museum seems to know anything about the set or how they got there. If anyone recognizes the pattern please let me know and help solve this mystery!

Tags:blue & white, porcelain, staples/rivets
Posted in anecdotal, bowl/dish, plate/platter | No Comments »

Worcester “Bride of Frankenstein” jug, c.1780

Sunday, June 5th, 2016

This First Period Worcester sparrow beak cream jug has cobalt printed transfer decoration in the “Fisherman and Cormorant” or “Pleasure Boat” pattern. On the underside is a cobalt hatched crescent C mark, used at the Worcester factory between 1755 and 1790. It stands 3.5 inches tall.

At first glance this small jug appears to have a common metal pin repair to the handle, but upon closer inspection you will see it has a much more interesting tale to tell. This is a marriage repair: two different broken items that become one unique piece. I call this my Bride of Frankenstein Jug, in homage to my Monster Mug, a large Chinese export mug with a replacement handle made from a Mason’s Ironstone Hydra jug. In both cases, rather than a tinker making a metal replacement handle, a crafty repairer carefully removed the handles from damaged jugs and grafted them onto the bodies of these vessels. The ground down remains of the old handle are still visible, as the replacement is shorter than the original.

One can only imagine what became of the original broken donor jug, as once the usable parts were removed and used to bring the other jug back to life, its remains were most likely cast aside in a dump, eventually crumbling and returning to the earth.