Antique Chelsea Porcelain

The Chelsea factory was established c.1745 by Nicholas Sprimont, a Flemish silversmith. Coloured tablewares predominated. The fine soft-paste body was initially very glassy, becoming cloudier in the Raised Anchor period (1749-52). Chelsea porcelains highly esteemed and fetches high prices.

Chelsea porcelain asparagus tureen with a lid

The influence of contemporary silver was most strongly felt from 1745 to 1754. A number of moulded shapes were copied directly from silver originals in the Triangle period (c.1745-49), including the much-copied goat and bee jug. By the late 1750s the silver influence had become more generalized.

Antique Limoges porcelain

Serious collectors know that Limoges specialise in trinket boxes and that those little boxes are worth more than almost anything that could fit inside them. Antique Limoges porcelain is considered the finest hard paste porcelain in the world because of three very specific characteristics.The first being the essential ingredients used in creating Limoges porcelain are all local natural ingredients, kaolin, feldspar and quartz. Then the intense firing process that forms the superb glaze that cannot be penetrated by the elements and gives Limoges porcelain that exquisite translucence. Finally, an abundance of skilled artists and the French flair for aristic design set a standard that other Europeans and American porcelain producers struggle to emulate.

Limoges Coronet hand painted porcelain wall plate

So, if your grandchild has just lost her first tooth or received his first haircut. How do you commemorate such a momentous event? Believe it or not, you’ll find an exquisite Limoges porcelain trinket box designed especially to memorialize those first strands of snipped hair, or that first lost tooth.

Early Chinese Porcelain

Some porcelain was produced in the Yuan dynasty (1280 - 1368), decorated in underglaze blue. It took some time, however, for the fashionable celadon wares to be superdeded by the crisply decorated porcelains, which were initially seen as vulgar in some quarters.

In 1368 the Mongol Yuan dynasty was overcome and the Ming dynasty was established: it was to last until 1644. During the early years of the first Ming Emperor's reign, porcelain in underglaze blue or red developed further. By the end of the 14th century, porcelain had gained fashionable status.