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Welcome to Moorabool’s latest Fresh Stock release – a fine selection of items, fresh to the market.
We’re also beginning to stock more jewellery, with an interesting selection of reasonably priced estate jewellery.

Mother’s Day is coming!

Why not spoil your mother with a lovely antique piece?
we’ve put together a gallery of ideas, have a browse here >

Fine 19th Century English Porcelain and more

The Worcester Factories

In 1751, Dr Wall was one of the Worcester businessmen who funded the establishment of what was to become perhaps the most famous of all English porcelain manufacturers – the Worcester factory.

He held the reins of the firm for the next 25 years, and his business sense saw the firm becoming ‘the one’ that aristocracy & the wealthy of England turned to for their porcelain needs.

He died in 1776; in 1783 Thomas Flight, the London agent who had been marketing Worcester porcelain for a while, took over the factory; his two sons, Joseph and John managed it, known as the ‘Flight’ period.

John died in 1791, and a new partner came on board – Martin Barr. This is the ‘Flight & Barr’ period. In 1804, one of his sons is part of the firm, the name being ‘Barr Flight Barr’, the order of seniority. Then in 1813, Martin Barr died, and another of his sons joined, with Joseph Flight being the senior – hence the name is ‘Flight Barr Barr’.

Throughout these decades of the late 18th-early 19th century, across all the different partnerships, the same shapes and patterns were in use: it’s hard to separate the different periods visually. Luckily they were very good at marking pieces, and it’s an interesting exercise to find examples from each period.

These simple but elegant pieces were collected by someone keen to learn the chronology of the factory – basically, an example of the various partnerships of what was to become the major porcelain factory of the 19th century. They’re ready to serve the same purpose with a new owner – terrific ‘examples’ that are budget-friendly!

A Dr Wall Worcester rarity

This ‘Dalhousie pattern’ Worcester cup & saucer is a spectacular rarity, coming from a single identifiable service.

The ‘Dalhousie’ pattern name comes from a service owned by the Earl of Dalhousie, with central landscape surrounded by blue border, and swags of fruit to the rim; however, there are multiple variations on this theme in the Worcester products, so the name ”Dalhousiue’ has come to refer to a style rather than a service.

This cup and saucer, however, does have an important association with another service: in the Zorensky Collection there is an identical coffee cup& saucer which Spiro & Sandon associate with the Lord Stormont service. 7th Viscount Stormont had been the Ambassador to France in the 1770’s, and this Worcester tea service from the 1780’s reflects this:

“….. the shape of the handle is unusual and the saucer has a well recessed slightly in the centre in which the foot of the cup sits, a feature derived from Sèvres. These features are unusual but occur on the Stormont service which was a special order involving many unusual tea ware forms.” 

The 7th Viscount Stormont also had a desert service made to Sèvres shapes, also represented in the Zorensky Collection. These Sèvres services are still at Scone house, ancient Royal seat of the Scottish Kings and home of the present Viscount. The Worcester ‘copies’ seem to have been dispersed at some time, and this rarity found its way to a collection in Melbourne, Australia.

Also ‘Fresh’…..

Coming Soon…..

Today’s Fresh Stock is a bit of a laugh…..

These classic bits of Victorian are the ultimate ….. ‘kitsch’!

A fair number of people will not like them at all…. but they’re still going to make you smile, no matter what!

The originals were actually probably Chinese temple figures, designed to look alive. An early European example can be found in the production of the Meissen factory in the mid 18th century – copying Chinese examples. It’s no surprise then that these late 19th century examples – made in Germany for English, American & Australian markets, amongst others – are also Asian in origin. They fit the definition of ‘Chinoiserie’, being entirely the product of European Imaginations of what they thought Chinese or Japanese characters looked like. A little off the mark with this example – the very pretty man with a magnificent moustache, flowing dress, and sun parasol over his shoulder – and a lovely big pink bow in his hair – he’s more of a German than an Asian!

There’s some serious stock as well, don’t worry: although amongst these you’ll find some more ‘funnies’ – cartoon sketches which were probably printed in publications of the period.
But also some ‘serious’ ceramics, including Baxter Studio decorated Coalport, Rockingham, and 18th century French Faience.

Enjoy!

Welcome to our latest Fresh Stock Release. This coming week brings Valentines Day, and we start things with a fantastic early Victorian example of a fancy ‘Valentines Day Card’.

Victorian Valentines Day cards were sent anonymously and often carried no message to the recipient. They had emerged as a trend in the earliest Victorian period, and grew in popularity as the century advanced. Technology led to elaborate mass production utilising die cut embossed ‘paper lacework’, as seen in this example, and chromolithography printing allowing multiple bright colours. The ‘Penny Post’ introduction in the 1840’s was the crucial component in the rise of the printed cards, allowing an admirer anywhere to send a cord to someone. Records for cards sent for Valentines Day 1841 show 400,000 within the English postal service – and this number increased constantly every year. The poor postmen were given an extra allowance ‘for refreshments, to help them keep up their energy’ while doing cupid’s work! 

This remarkable large piece of English Majolica is the ultimate pottery rarity. It’s a Punch punchbowl – the figure balancing it on his belly is the character so familiar to Victorians as the character of the ‘Punch’ satyrical magazine. The bowl itself is like a giant orange, and the moulded holly around the edge reveals the intended usage for the bowl: Yuletide Cheer, sitting in the middle of a lavish Christmas table.

It was created by George Jones, famous for his quirky products. It bears the diamond registration mark for 1873, as well as the ‘GJ’ impressed initials of the proprietor. This is interesting, as 1873 is also the year George Jones included his sons in the business, changing the mark to ‘GJ & Sons’. This bowl must have been made in the initial part of 1873, before the change of the mark was implemented. It’s rare we can date something so precisely…..

Welcome to our latest Fresh Stock release.

This week, we have a splendid selection of ceramics, including 18th & early 19th century pieces from a local gentleman’s collection – all sourced from Moorabool over the past 60 years….. he recalls buying his first piece off John Rosenberg in 1965!

Many of these pieces may be familiar to regular customers, and feature in some of our printed catalogues for the Exhibitions we held in our Geelong premises in the past: now they’re back in stock, and looking for a new ‘custodian’ to enjoy and care for them.

There’s a number of early pieces of European porcelain.

You can’t beat the quality of these extraordinarily rare Meissen chocolate cups. They literally ‘walked in’ to our shop from a local house where they have been sitting for many years, with the family tradition being they came to Australia in the 19th century. We believe they are from a unique dèjeuner set, the tray which held them being in the Museum collection in Munich.
They are Meissen, made in around 1775, and the distinct style of painting belongs to a known artist: Johann Georg Loehnig. Active at Meissen from around 1770, he was regarded as one of their best artists, and given the prestigious commissions. They are extraordinarily rare, and possibly relate to a single service, the main tray which held them being in the Museum at Munich.
Who could such magnificent cups have been for?

Fine Antique Ceramics

Fresh to Stock

Asian

We’re pleased to offer a fine selection of fresh-to-the-market items today, including a stunning micro-carved ivory plaque, an 18th c. enamel egg, and some local watercolours by Arnold Jarvis.

Micro-Carving – a miniature masterpiece

This beautiful little piece is no bigger than the bottom of your tea-cup – and yet the detail is as good as a large sculpture. Set into a very early lacquer & gold mount, probably from new, it is a type sometimes seen mounted as a snuff box lid. Often catalogued as ‘French’, we have attributed it to the English carvers Stephany & Dresch, ‘Carvers in Miniature to his majesty George III’ .

A Salviati Aventurine Centerpiece

This flamboyant piece of glass is – believe it or not – Italian! Actually a stunning example of an interesting period in the development of the ‘Murano Glass’ we are familiar with, it dates to the later 19th century years when the revival of the Italian Art Glass was just beginning. It comes from the workshop of Antonio Salviati (1816-1890), who paired up with an English archaeologist, Sir Austen H. Layard, M.P. (1817-94).

Salviati’s products, the ‘Compagnia Venezia-Murano’, won the highest prize, a gold medal indicating the First Order of Merit. After the exhibition closed in 1881, 130 pieces were purchased for the Gallery, which still retains a good number of them. At the same time, the impressive wealth in Melbourne meant the top-end department stores were also offering these luxury products for sale. As this piece was sourced in Melbourne generations ago, it is most probably from one of those sources.

We have an article on this splendid centrepiece and the connection with the 1880 International Exhibition in Melbourne.

Arnold Jarvis 1881-1959 – local artist of interest

Arnold Jarvis was a prolific artist, specialising in classic Australian vistas with ancient River Redgums, and was once described as ‘The other Hans Heyson’. However, he doesn’t even come close to Hans Heyson’s value today, and his story is somewhat neglected.

He was born in South Australia, and literally ‘joined the circus’ in his teens, travelling as far as Perth to perform on stage. He had balance & tightrope acts – and a ‘speed painting’ show, where he would produce a painting from a blank canvas ready to hang on the wall in under 3 minutes! This was no doubt a brilliant way to refine his brushwork, as they say practice makes perfect, and he certainly perfected his impressions of ancient river redgums. By 1901, he was no longer a juggler, but a full-time artist.

We have a group of four Arnold Jarvis watercolours to show you today, including one remarkable example which includes an English thatched cottage, set on the Victorian coast! We have an interesting interpretation of this work, read more in the blog page dedicated to Arnold Jarvis.