A circa 1730 octagonal bowl manufactured at Chantilly and painted in polychrome colors in the kakiemon style, illustrating paulownia and flower sprigs along the sides and red flowers with tendrils on the everted rim. A finger bowl? Possibly just copying a Japanese form, because, well, it's cool.

A soft-paste porcelain snuff box with hinged silver mounts manufactured at Saint-Cloud circa 1740. In the shape of a crouching lamb painted with chinoiserie figures and flowering plants in polychrome colors on the figure and on the exterior and interior of the lid. Nice 'smile', resting lamb face.

A porcelain snuffbox with hinged lid manufactured at Saint-Cloud circa 1740, possibly a Saint-Cloud copy of a Chantilly form. In the shape of a reclining man, painted in polychrome colors to the exterior and interior of the lid with silver mounts. Showing a laid back vibe for the new year.

Angry birds! A Sèvres porcelain bleu lapis ground pomade pot with cover, decorated with birds in landscapes within gilt line oval reserves, the cover decorated with a yellow ranunculus finial within a gilt line. I like how they're portrayed, the heavy lines make them somewhat menacing. (see ALT)

A circa 1750 Meissen porcelain milk jug with a scroll handle decorated with raised prunus branches in imitation of unpainted 17th and 18th century Dehua Chinese porcelain. With a small cover with round flower knop. I have a thing for raised prunus decoration, not sure why.

A Sèvres porcelain jug with molded blue-and-gold rocaille decoration, painted with scattered sprays of flowers and with gilt lines along the handle and base and with gilt dentils along the spout rim. Used for dispensing water, it probably had a matching basin. 'Pot à l'eau à boissière', ca. 1758.

A circa 1740 porcelain small mug with handle manufactured at Chantilly, decorated with painted flowers and bamboo in polychrome colors in the kakiemon style. Nicely done. Bought it from Bonhams, London on December 2nd and it actually shipped and arrived before Christmas. Miraculous.

Just an unassuming porcelain mustard pot with lid made circa 1690 at Louis Poterat's manufactory in Rouen, now at the Sèvres Museum. His family was known for faïence production, but Louis did make an attempt at creating porcelain like this. We know of about nine pieces in existence, c'est trés rare.

A rather large Christmas tree in the Harvard Club, New York City. December, 2025.

Just your usual managerie of 18th century Meissen porcelain animals, now in the Sèvres museum.

A relatively austere oval platter by Bernard Palissy. At the Musée Nationale de Sèvres.

A few new auction purchases. Sèvres ewer, pomade pot, Chantilly mug and a cup with cover and saucer. Happy Christmas.

Mug (Chantilly, c1740) #c18th #c18 #18thc

Started collecting this British porcelain pattern a few years ago. New Hall #446, circa 1820, an Imari pattern that didn't overwhelm with underglaze blue, decorated with tree branches, gilt leaves and orange-red grapes. Copied by other factories, but I find New Hall's the best version.

Three Meissen porcelain leaf-shaped dishes each decorated with flower sprays and with a green ribbon with sprays along the borders, two encrusted flowers below green-painted twig handles and a gilt dotted band along the rims. Circa 1763-74, formerly owned by Catalina von Pannwitz (see ALT).

A large porcelain mug manufactured circa 1775 at Worcester, decorated on both sides with blue transfer illustrations, both taken from engravings by Jean-Baptiste Pillement: ‘La Pêche’ and ‘Le Promenade Chinoisie’. The grooved handle has an old repair of two staples. Ready for ale.

Me, a few years back during a far off December. In serious negotiations with an overdressed representative from a northern syndicate of toy suppliers.

A pair of late-19th century porcelain campana-form vases with bases, copies of Mennecy "Medici" vases decorated with flowers painted in polychrome colors. Manufactured and marked by Samson, Paris. Nicely done imitations but the flowers aren't quite as accomplished as on Mennecy originals (see ALT).

Dog and cock (Arita, c1680-1725) and a view of the new third-floor display, George R Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto, #c18th #c18 #18thc

A circa 1740 Meissen large porcelain tureen with two gilt rococo handles, the cover with an artichoke finial and both with a stand. Each painted with Kakiemon-style decoration in the Gelber Löwe pattern, picturing a tiger snaking around a bamboo tree and with a flowering prunus. Ready for hot soup.

An assembled set of Sèvres porcelain compotiers, shell-form (coquille) dishes for compotes or caramelized fruit, with date marks from 1763 to 1779. Ten in total, bought at Christie's at various auctions over the last ten years. Plain decoration (for Sèvres) but still rather nicely done. (see ALT)

Beaker and saucer (Chantilly, c1735) #c18th #c18 #18thc

A Chelsea porcelain tea cup with rounded handle, decorated with Kakiemon-inspired red and blue flowers with gilt highlights, circa 1760. And it also depicts two quails, with a gilt iron-red foliate border along the outer rim. Will have to find a matching saucer! (see ALT)

My favorite painting at The Cloisters in upper Manhattan, the Mérode Altarpiece depicting a version of the Annunciation, circa 1425. Crazy perspective, things just float in the room while Mary stares into her version of a 15th c. cell phone while Gabriel tries to get her attention. Kids these days!

I got this Böttger Lustre tea bowl at Sotheby's a few years ago as part of a lot of Meissen wares. It's the only piece I own with this decoration, it's 'not my thing' and I assumed it was 19th century. The specialist at Sotheby's tells me it's 18th century, so I'll take that. Nicely gilt! (see ALT)

A porcelain leaf-form cup and saucer manufactured at Chantilly circa 1740, painted in the kakiemon style. With a light brown line on the rim of both and illustrated with a design of a prunus tree on a green base. The cup handle is painted light green as is a small twig end on the saucer. (see ALT)

Three ceilings in rooms in Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin, I took these photos earlier this year. Would love it if the management would just place chaises longues in the middle of each room so visitors could just lay about and stare upwards, a venti absinthe optional.

Oval tray depicting Apollo dancing w/ the Muses (Doccia, c1750-55), sold for €35,000 (below est. of €40,000-60,000, but still) at Bonhams/Cornette de St Cyr, Paris, with a piece of Doccia (c1760) I bought earlier this year for a LOT less & like better #c18th #c18 #18thc

Comparing two approaches to the same design: the "Flying Fox" pattern on a circa 1755 Chelsea dish (left) with a circa 1745 plate made at Meissen. You can see the differences in the paste too, the Meissen is much whiter. Of course, both factories are copying a Japanese design. (details in ALT)

Two circa 1770 Sèvres biscuit porcelain figures, one of a seated young man presenting a lamb in a floral basket and a young woman cradling a basket of gathered flowers, both on rockwork-and-leaf bases. Fairly large, they place well on a dinner table setting or as part of a centerpiece. (see ALT)

A Sèvres-style porcelain three-sectioned salt cellar with painted flower sprays and a three-part handle with ribbon decoration in blue and a painted knop, manufactured by Mennecy/Bourg-la-Reine in the 1770s. Sometimes used for serving pepper, nutmeg and cinnamon to put on meat in the 18th century.

A Japanese porcelain (Edo Period, ca. 1720) decagonal dish painted in the kakiemon style with a pheasant seated in a prunus tree among banded hedges, facing another pheasant on the left. Along the edges are scattered chrysanthemums and a red and blue Japanese design within a feni-buchi rim.

Two 1789 Sèvres dinner plates each decorated with a central bouquet of roses encircled by a blue line with gilt S scrolls, and a frieze border of planted sprigs of leaves and flowers radiating outward. From the Boyd-Kerr Service, ordered for James Gordon of Moor Place, Hertfordshire. Lovely design.

A pair of Saint-Cloud potpourris, circa 1735, thickly-molded white porcelain vases of ovoid shape with encrusted flower swags and matching reticulated covers. Designed as a gadrooned vase perched on a mound of rocks with vegetation. They're big and fit nicely on the mantel over the fireplace. (ALT)

A conical tea or coffee cup and saucer manufactured at the Vincennes or Sèvres factory circa 1755, painted with scattered flowers and parallel blue concentric lines (cerceaux, or ‘hoops’) and gilt dashes. Madame de Pompadour owned a tea set with several of these, they're somewhat rare.

A Mennecy lobed oval porcelain sugar bowl with painted enamel flower sprays, the lid with a blue painted entwined branch handle and brown painted rim. Circa 1760, on the underside is the factory mark of an incised D.V. Usually with a matching oval stand, but nicely decorated.

A circa 1740 Meissen lobed porcelain bowl decorated with two banded hedges on two sides and scattered groups of painted and gilt flowers, all in the Kakeimon style, and with a brown line along the scalloped rim. A typical Japanese motif of the time, seen on Meissen and Chantilly wares.

Dessert dish from the Rohan service https://collections.artsmia.org/art/707/

This is an old terracotta figure of a putto holding a bird with two rabbits by his side. It's "signed" by Boizot on the base but it's possibly a later copy. I can find no example of a Boucher painting or any etching picturing this fellow, so if anyone out there has seen him before, let me know.

Yep. Vote!

Saw this small dish at the Georgia Museum of Art last weekend, it's a (tea)cup plate. Popular in England during the first half of the 19th century and in the U.S., with glass versions in the early 20th. It was a coaster for your teacup while you cooled and drank your beverage out of the saucer.

Halloween costume from long ago. Ghouls just want to have fun.

A French (Creil) hand-painted transfer ware souvenir plate circa 1820, depicting the celebrity magic dog Munito performing a card trick. Amazing!

A circa 1745 Chantilly porcelain wine bottle cooler (seau à bouteille) lobed and decorated with a multi-flower plant on two sides, the twig handles with small encrusted flowers. The painting inspired by Meissen decoration, a short and sweet container for a half bottle of wine.

Porcelain from the Nymphenburg factory in a small museum at the palace #c18th #c18 #18thc

Visiting the studio of ceramicist/sculptor Sunkoo Yuh at the University of Georgia last Saturday on a field trip with the American Ceramics Circle. That tall sculpture he's standing next to comes in two pieces with two sculpted slots at the base so they may be transported by forklift! Amazing.

At the Georgia Porcelain and Decorative Arts Museum at the State Botanical Gardens in Athens, GA with the American Ceramics Circle, yesterday. Delighted to see so much European porcelain. ‘Roam if you want to’ among the displays.

A fine day at the High Museum in Atlanta yesterday with the American Ceramics Circle. Great lectures and a lovely afternoon with the collection.

A fine afternoon visiting the Swan House in Atlanta, with the American Ceramics Circle. Amazing Chinese export and a little bit of everything else, too.