Large Blanc de Chine Fruit Urn with Life-size Fruits
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A large blanc de chine ceramic fruit urn centrepiece, Italian, of impressive proportions with life size modelled fruits to the cover and a pear finial, above a gadrooned basket urn base, 82 cm high, 41 cm diameter
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- Blanc De Chine - ?Blanc de Chine? literally translates as "white from China". The pieces are made from a pure, white porcelain with a very smooth glaze and have been made since the 16th century to the present day, at the kilns in Dehua in the Chinese province of Fujian.
Large quantities of Blanc de Chine? were exported to Europe as Chinese export porcelain in the early 18th century and Blanc de Chine was copied by European potteries including Bing & Grondahl, Herend, Meissen, Royal Copenhagen, Royal Worcester and others. It was also exported to Japan in large quantities.
The most common shapes are devotional objects including small figures of Ho-tai (Buddha) and Guanyin, the Chinese goddess of mercy. Early pieces tend to have a warmer, ivory tinge, whilst later pieces are ?colder? white or have a blue tinge. - Gadrooning - A series of lobes usually as a border. In furniture gadrooning is found as carved decoration around the edges of table tops in the Chippendale and Jacobean style furniture. Gadrooning is also found as decoration on the rims of silver and ceramics.
- Finial - An architectural decoration, found on the upper parts of of an object. On furniture they are usually found on pediments, canopies and shelf supports. On smaller ceramic or silver items, such as spoons, they may decorate the top of the item itself, or the lid or cover where they provide a useful handle for removal.
Finials have a variety of shapes and forms. They may be urn-shaped, baluster shaped round or spiral, but usually taper into an upper point. Many real life shapes may also be used as finials, such as pineapples, berries, pinecones, buds, lotus and acorns. Sometimes animals such as a lion are depicted, or fish and dolphins.
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