Armorial Garniture Porcelain With Romanov Grandeur

Details

Description

On offer is a Chinese export-style, porcelain armorial vase, decorated in the manner of an 18th-century service commissioned for the … Read more On offer is a Chinese export-style, porcelain armorial vase, decorated in the manner of an 18th-century service commissioned for the Russian Imperial Market. Original 18th-century Chinese export porcelain made for the Romanovs is exceptionally rare and highly valued. Beautifully capturing the historic aesthetic for imperial symbolism, this is a high-quality 20th-century decorative intrepretation rather than an original Qianlong-era antique.
The central motif is the coat of arms of the Russian Empire. The two eagle heads are adorned with imperial crowns, and the talons grasp a sovereign orb symbolizing worldly power and a scepter or laurel branch. The blue breast shield depicts Saint George the Victorious mounted on horseback. However, instead of a traditional serpentine dragon, the figure on the shield is shown battling a large, green avian creature or bird.
The piece is sparsely decorated with famille rose style pink floral sprays and scrolling borders along the rim and base. This design is heavily modeled after the famous services produced in Jingdezhen for Empress Catherine the Great around 1780.
Structurally, this is a faceted, six-sided vase designed to serve as a garniture piece. In the 18th and 19th centuries, wealthy European households placed these sets in groups of three or five along fireplace mantels or atop large cabinets.
The view inside the mouth of the vase shows a perfectly uniform, smooth, and hollow interior geometry with a distinct light-brown residue pooling at the bottom. This clean, hollow uniformity is the hallmark of modern slip casting (pouring liquid clay into a plaster mold), rather than the traditional piece-molding or hand-throwing techniques used in the 18th century. Nevertheless, it offers an appealing glimpse of Romanov grandeur.
Signature/Maker’s mark: Nonexistent. See less