18th Century Dutch Polychrome Delft Baluster Form Vase

This stunning lidded urn might have once been found in a 19th century Italian apothecary. The front of the shaped urn body has the hand-painted phrase “C. Violaru”, which is the heavily abbreviated form of the Latin word for violet (violaceum). Up until the mid-1700’s, apothecaries would make syrups from violets and use it to treat kidney ailments. Above the Latin wording is a whimsical musical scene with a man blowing a horn leading a couple who is holding hands over rocky terrain lined with shrubbery. A large house and trees can be seen behind the trio with a pair of mountains in the distance. On the opposite side of the urn is a floral display with a bird perched on a rock. Beneath the bird is a geometric design, possibly a stylized sun with radiating beams of light. Both scenes are segmented by a pair of thin quarter round moldings that encircle the entire vase. Other hand-painted motifs include floral and foliate margents, geometric patterns, and Vitruvian waves that are infilled with horizontal fluting. The sides of the urn have a fish-scale background beneath two mustachioed mascarons. Both men have been styled in grotesque fashion, with a pair of spiraled horns emanating from their heads. In between the horns is a looping handle that is affixed to the body in similar tight spirals. The domed lid has three scrolled arms that merge in a geometric finial. The base color of the urn is white, with illustrations in a monochromatic cobalt oxide blue, reminiscent of Delft blue pottery...

More information coming soon… Dating to the 1700s, this pair of vibrant albarelli jars have two distinct portraits inset within ovals. The blue ground Italian jars have also been h...

From Italy, this hand painted Majolica platter has two areas of ornamentation. The outer circle has busts of two different men, one on the top of the platter and one at the bottom. T...

Inspired by the Delftware products that became world renowned in the mid-17th to mid-18th centuries, this pair of cobalt blue and white cylinder vases were hand-painted in Holland (Netherlands) in the early 1900’s. The vases depict two distinct scenes, which were interestingly painted by different artists. One vase has a farmhouse scene signed by “E. Lombart”, with a thatched roof house set near two large trees. In front of the house is a woman watching over a cow and three chickens as they gather near a stone feeding trough...