Rococo Vase, Worcester, soft paste porcelain, c.1768

This beautiful Worcester vase of inverted baluster shape, with an everted rim and protruding rococo moulded handles, is painted in rich Kakiemon style with a long-tailed Ho Ho bird standing before a tree. Above, is a bird in flight and another can be seen on a branch. The reverse is painted with a similar long-tailed bird preening itself. These finely painted panels are reserved on a scale blue ground with gilded borders in the French rococo taste.

The decoration and design combines Japanese, Chinese, Meissen and Sèvres influences with the typical flair and success for which Worcester is deservedly famed.

Such fine potting, exquisitely painted decoration and flamboyant gilding would have required the not inconsiderable skills of several craftspeople, making this vase enormously costly to produce.

Mark: Blue square seal mark to base.

Provenance: The Ronald David Butti Collection.

Condition: Perfect - no chips cracks or restoration. The bright enamel decoration is in superb order, and the rich gilding is exquisite.

Dimensions: Height 6 1/4" (16cm)

Worcester Porcelain 1751-1790: The Zorensky Collection, Simon Spero & John Sandon (Antique Collectors' Club, 1996).

Important Worcester Porcelain, The R. David Butti Collection (Bonhams, 2006).