David Foord-Brown Antiques

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Description:

A RARE AND IMPORTANT CHAMBERLAIN’S WORCESTER PORCELAIN VASE AND COVER, CIRCA 1795

Of highly sophisticated conception, this vase and cover represents an ambitious early production of the Chamberlain’s Worcester factory The vessel is of spiral-fluted (or “shanked”) baluster form, rising to a waisted neck and fitted with a domed cover surmounted by a gilt acorn finial. The body is applied with elegant, upswept handles, and the whole is raised on a circular foot set upon a shaped oblong plinth base. The decorative scheme is executed with notable refinement. Extensive gilding, of a high technical standard, comprises lozenge diapering, pendant harebells, anthemion-derived motifs, classical swags, and star devices, all disposed with careful symmetry. A broad central band in pale salmon pink serves as the principal ground for the figural reserve. The reverse is ornamented with alternating gilt and white oval panels on the same ground, while a subsidiary lower register continues the neoclassical vocabulary upon a white ground.

The principal painted panel to the front depicts Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi, and may be attributed, on stylistic grounds, to John Wood, one of the leading early figure painters associated with the Worcester manufactory. The composition derives from the influential painting by Angelica Kauffman, exhibited in 1785, and widely disseminated through engravings.

The subject—Cornelia Africana—held particular resonance within late 18th-century neoclassical culture. Celebrated in antiquity for her virtue, education, and maternal devotion, Cornelia was esteemed as the exemplar of republican motherhood. Her sons, Tiberius Gracchus and Gaius Gracchus, were later venerated as reforming statesmen, reinforcing her status as a moral and intellectual ideal. Such themes were especially appealing to British patrons of the period, reflecting Enlightenment values and a cultivated engagement with classical antiquity.

The underside bears the Chamberlain’s Worcester script mark in gilt, consistent with wares produced in the closing years of the 18th centuryThis vase is recorded and illustrated in Chamberlain Worcester Porcelain 1788–1852 by Geoffrey A. Godden (FRSA), pl. XXII, where it is noted as a particularly important example of early Chamberlain’s output.

 

Origin: English

Circa:1795

Height: 12.5 in. (32 cm.) |

Price: £6,350

Stock Ref: AH30

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