Passion for Porcelain

I have a passion for porcelains. I love the delicately painted florals, birds, and portraits. They are lovely little pieces of art. I have been collecting for a few years now and I tend to be a bit obsessive about it (stop laughing mom)! I actually use most of my pieces as you have seen in my tea party pictures. I believe it is more fun to use and enjoy these treasures instead of just sitting them on a shelf. Here are a few pieces from my collection.

A gift from my mother. I usually do a silk flower arrangement in this vase during the holidays.

This little tea pot caught my fancy with all of it's colorful roses:).

More rose bedecked porcelain!

This sugar bowl is part of a tea set and is signed by the artist:). Most people don't realize that although the porcelain blank may have a hallmark of Limoges, Bavaria, or other European backstamps, many of these blanks were imported to the US and painted by American women.

This large porcelain box was painted by a local artist. I love her roses-they are so realistic you can almost smell the fragrance:).

Now many of you are aware that I am a dealer at a local antique shop. There are several dealers there and we each have our own areas of expertise-one of mine of course is porcelain:).
Yesterday when I went to the shop Lisa told me that there were some pieces of porcelain that she needed some info on.

Oh no-not porcelain-I'm on a budget!

If you can imagine sending a chocoholic to a chocolate shop and forbidding her to eat anything-well that was my day at the shop yesterday! Imagine boxes and boxes of gorgeous antique porcelain just waiting to be enjoyed and I get to help price all of it.

UGHHHHHH!!!

Although I enjoy doing this it is very difficult when one wants to buy it all!

Above (and below) is the first piece I encountered-a gorgeous rose bedecked vase.

Every inch of this vase is handpainted and embellished with a raised beaded design (can't you just imagine fresh roses spilling from the top of this vase?).

How about this beautiful footed bowl with roses on the inside...

as well as the outside.

This lovely Limoges tray would be darling at one of my tea parties:).

How about this bowl laden with garlands of roses?

Isn't it pretty?

This biscuit jar is beautifully decorated with roses, intricate gold design, and a rose handle on the lid.

Beautiful (and very useful too)!

This little beauty has been damaged and repaired and is missing it's lid but is still well worth using. I think a flower arrangement would look pretty in this bowl-don't you?
With all of these beautiful porcelains-how is a girl to say no? (Oh, I forgot, that's what hubby is for:).

So back to pricing these lovelies. Alas, I have enjoyed sharing these wonderful porcelains with you. I will try to picture more pieces in my next post along with some interesting bits of porcelain facts and history.

Happy collecting!