This is a beautiful porcelain plaque with a lavish flower bouquet, set in a gilt wood frame. It was made in England in about 1825.
This plaque has provenance: it once belonged to the Margaret Cadman Collection and it later belonged to the Twinight Collection. Details can be found at Christie's and Bonham's.
We don't know which factory made this plaque; although it is signed "C Brown" we don't know who the artist was - but he or she certainly was an excellent flower painter. We see an urn on a stone shelf, overflowing with flowers: a rose, chrysanthemum, carnation, fuchsia, morning glory and other flowers. There is a little ladybird on one of the stems.
The plaque has a beautiful giltwood frame in the Regency style.
The artist's signature is vaguely visible underneath the fuchsia flower that is trailing off the table.
CONDITION REPORT The plaque and the frame are in near-perfect antique condition with some minor flaws. There are two tiny flakes off the enamel paint, visible in the pictures on the far left hand side. The bright blue enamel of the morning glory flower has faded, which is very common for this colour enamel on porcelain of the 1820s. The paper on the back has a small 1.5" tear. There are some superficial non-structural cracks on the gilt wood, but please note that the frame does not form part of the antique value of this listing.
Antique British porcelain is never perfect. Kilns were fired on coal in the 1800s, and this meant that china from that period can have some firing specks from flying particles. British makers were also known for their experimentation, and sometimes this resulted in technically imperfect results. Due to the shrinkage in the kiln, items can have small firing lines or develop crazing over time, which should not be seen as damage but as an imperfection of the maker's recipes, probably unknown at the time of making. Items have often been used for many years and can have normal signs of wear, and gilt can have signs of slight disintegration even if never handled. I will reflect any damage, repairs, obvious stress marks, crazing or heavy wear in the item description but some minor scratches, nicks, stains and gilt disintegration can be normal for vintage items and need to be taken into account.
There is widespread confusion on the internet about the difference between chips and nicks, or hairlines and cracks. I will reflect any damage as truthfully as I can, i.e. a nick is a tiny bit of damage smaller than 1mm and a chip is something you can easily see with the eye; a glazing line is a break in the glazing only; hairline is extremely tight and/or superficial and not picked up by the finger; and a crack is obvious both to the eye and the finger. Etcetera - I try to be as accurate as I can and please feel free to ask questions or request more detailed pictures!
DIMENSIONS the plaque itself is 25 X 20.7cm (9.75" X 8.25").
Please note that the frame does not form part of the antique value of this listing and we do not take responsibility for its authenticity or condition.
English porcelain plaque of flower bouquet, ca 1825
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