Anna Burnside
Head of Sale
Lot 175
An exceptional Chelsea white vase, circa 1750-52
1 December 2025, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£7,000 - £10,000
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Jim Peake
Head of Department
Fergus Gambon
Director
An exceptional Chelsea white vase, circa 1750-52
Of hexagonal form, the flattened 'dragon' handles applied below a flared rim, moulded in high relief with prunus sprigs radiating over every facet of the vase, left in the white, 23cm high
Footnotes
Provenance
Mr and Mrs James McGregor Stewart Collection, Sotheby's, 13 November 1973, lot 95
Suzanne Nagler Collection
John Hewett Collection
Anton Gabszewicz Collection
Literature
White, Mary, Drinking at the Whites' House, Vol.2, 2021, p.220, fig.c
White, Mary, Living at the Whites' House, Vol.4, 2023, p.348
Only a handful of these imposing vases are recorded. In terms of scale they are one of the largest ornamental wares produced at Chelsea in the raised anchor period. The form with its dragon handles is ultimately derived from Chinese archaic bronze altar vases, probably via a Dehua example produced for export.
An identical vase in the British Museum (inv. no.1887,0307,II.9) was donated by Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks. An interesting comparison might be drawn between the Worcester vase also held in the British Museum (inv. no.1938,0314.72.CR), produced circa 1753, which is of a similar shape but is without prunus moulding and instead painted in polychrome enamels. Worcester's slightly later iteration plays to that factory's strength, which was their attractive coloured enamelling. Chelsea showed off their sumptuous glaze and high relief moulding by leaving many of the raised anchor pieces in the white, including the present lot and in doing so recall more closely the probable blanc-de-chine inspiration. A remarkable pair of undecorated vases at Colonial Williamsburg is illustrated by John C Austin, Chelsea Porcelain at Williamsburg, 1977, p.50, no.31. It would appear that the only known coloured example is illustrated in the ECC English Pottery and Porcelain Commemorative Exhibition Catalogue, 1948, pl.48, no.213.