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M. FORD CREECH ANTIQUES & FINE ARTS

"Happy Christmas to All!"

....When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what! was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

 The miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer

Had crashed on the lawn and lost all its gear.

Gifts scattered all over! – not a thing is intact.

Tomorrow is Christmas – our plans are all wacked!
 

That being the case, please give us a call.

We offer amenities for both large and quite small....

Emergency Appointments

Open Christmas Eve until 4:00

Complimentary Gift Wrapping (except furniture)

Complimentary FedEx Ground shipping on small items (within Continental US)

"Fine Ceramics"

CHINESE EXPORT "MINIATURES"

Pair of Kangxi Miniature Blue & White Vases

China, 1662-1722

Yongzheng / Early Qianlong, c1730-40, 

Chinese Export Porcelain Miniature Figure of a Monkey

Qianlong, c1750

Chinese Export "Toy" Cockerel Coffee Cup

Qianlong, c1760

CHINESE EXPORT PORCELAINS

 The exterior painted on each side with 2 Moors on a grassy mound, dressed in Ottoman

From an important and specially commissioned service, discussed in both The Choice of the Private Trader, and China for the West, I.  The design is possibly by Cornelius Pronk. The more complex border denotes that this version is likely from the “first order” from 1740, as the expense of producing the service resulted in later "economies"*.

Set of 4 Early Qianlong Famille Rose Plates

China, c1745

Very finely painted in one of the earliest famille rose palettes, combining the Imari iron red with

famille rose enamels heightened with gilt, the center with lotus and birds, the cavetto and border

with fenced gardens and scrolls

Pair of Chinese Export Molded Famille Rose

Wall Pockets

Qianlong, c1750

 Of upright molded cylinder flattened to the backside, the top opening with an upright lappet

(cloud forms) to the back, the bodies painted in pale blue, iron red, yellow and olive heightened

with gilt, with carnations and cornflowers between molded and gilt ruyi heads and horizontal bands

Wall pockets were believed to be hung on the walls of inner courtyards in China, and used to

hold chopsticks, plants, or flowers.  Not a great many survive as pairs. They became popular

 in the West during the 18th century, where they were copied by some of the early porcelain manufactories.

       Provenance : Matthew & Elisabeth Sharpe, Philadelphia

SOLD

 The oval fluted bowl with the usual notched rim, the center painted in famille rose overglaze

enamels and bianco sopra bianco with a blue hollow rock issuing peonies within a fenced garden, within an iron red lambrequin border, the rim with further peony sprays; footrim top pierced for hanging.

 This shape imitates a European model made of metal or wood, and would have been specially commissioned by European clients, yet painted in the Chinese fashion. 

Provenance : Elinor Gordon, bearing label verso

18th CENTURY ENGLISH PORCELAINS

First Period (Dr. Wall) Lobed Teapot & Cover

Prunus Root Pattern, England, c1755-60

This is an early teapot of rare lobed shape, the lid still with a turned mushroom finial -

that finial in the 1760's giving way to the well-known flower finial.  Most lobed teapots are

painted in overglaze enamels.  This, however, is painted in blue and white in the Prunus Root

pattern. A slightly earlier bullet shaped lobed teapot (c.1753-4) was included in Part I,

Watney Collection,  lot 158, p. 85. The lot notation states the “particular” rarity of blue

and white on the lobed form.  This teapot bears a workman's mark in underglaze-blue.

SOLD

Chelsea Porcelain Leaf Dish

England, c1755-57

  Of shaped and molded cos lettuce form with fluted green-enameled edges centering

a raised puce vein ending in a curled stem-form handle

Leaf-shaped dishes were perhaps the earliest of the naturalistic porcelains – an influence

attributed to the contemporary leaf-shaped dishes of Japan. They were made by Meissen

as early as the 1730’s, and from c1750, interpreted by most English manufactories, in fanciful

wares, that included sauce and butter boats, salts, pickle dishes, sweetmeat dishes, and tureens.

Several versions are presented within this collection.

Bow Porcelain Blue & White Lobed Dish

England, c1765-70

The deep geranium leaf lobed dish molded and painted in bright blue with fruiting grape

vines,  small blossoms and scattered insects within a shaped feuille-de-choux rim,

verso with a pseudo Oriental character mark (which has no particular meaning)

Of all early English ceramics, Bow remains my favorite.  The glaze has an oily sensual

feel and the forms often have wonderful molding, as the above.

Caughley Blue & White Leaf Butter Boat

"Pleasure Boat" (Fisherman)

England, c1780-90

Leaf form butterboats were originally made for pouring warm butter over asparagus and such.

 They may have also been used for pickles - but their shape invites lifting them by their small handles.

The Pleasure Boat pattern, was also made by Worcester and several Liverpool makers. 

In the Caughley example, the fisherman has a straight fishing line and a tall man holds a

 short fish. In the Worcester version, the fishing line is curved, and a shorter man holds a larger fish.

SOLD

Pair of Bow Porcelain Blue & White Leaf-Molded Dishes

England, c1765-70

This is another of the wonderful Bow leaf-molded forms. Each is boldly painted with two

molded branches of over a large single leaf centering clusters of berries and sided by

scattered insects, within a shaped feuille-de-choux rim. The verso again has the pseudo

Oriental character marks which have no particular meaning.

For related wares, see Bow Porcelain, Gabszewicz & Freeman, p.78 

SOLD

First Period (Dr. Wall) Worcester Blue & White

Cabbage Leaf Dish

 England, c1770

 Overlapping leaf-forms were made by Meissen as early as the 1730’s, and from c1750, 

interpreted by most English manufactories.  This is an interpretation by Worcester, c1770, painted

in blue and white scattered floral sprays.  This form was also decorated in polychrome enamels.

SOLD

Bow Porcelain Powder Blue Dinner Plate

England, c1765

Painted with a blue-outlined island riverscape depicting a poling boatman between an island with

formal buildings and a willow, the even powder blue ground with reserved blue-outlined panels,

6-character pseudo Chinese character mark

Bow, Worcester, Caughley and Isleworth copied the Chinese export originals, blowing

dry cobalt through a bamboo straw onto an oiled surface, masking the reserves for painting. 

They are among the most striking of all early English porcelains. 

SOLD

English Ceramic Stirrup Cups

19^th Century

  The exact origin of the "stirrup cup", or "parting cup", is unknown.  However it seems tied to foxhunting, when men gathering for the hunt on a cool morning would enjoy a drink as they departed. 

As the cups were held on horseback, there was no need for a foot to the vessel. The earliest  

were in silver and date as early as 1670, the ceramic the mask or head cups dating from c1770. 

The drink traditionally was port or sherry.

SOLD

EARLY CHINESE CERAMICS

Han Dynasty Pottery Standing Dog

China, 206 B.C. – 220 A.D.   

  Each year on March 3, at an ancient temple in the Tongbai Mountains in Southeast China, local residents hold a grand ceremony honoring Pangu – the mythological dog-headed figure, whom legends say emerged from a giant cosmic egg, creating heaven and earth.  As the legends were passed down orally, many versions exist.  Perhaps the most lyrical holds that when Pangu died, his breath became the wind and clouds, his voice the rolling thunder, one eye the sun, the other the moon.  One legend describes his tears flowing to make rivers and the radiance of his eyes turning into thunder and lightning; when he was happy the sun shone, when angry black clouds gathered in the sky.  This dog-headed kindly being was thought the father of the human race, and thence the emperors. 

prized have crimson or purple splashes.