An 18th century Japanese porcelain octagonal bowl painted in enamel polychrome colors in the kakiemon style with flowers, bamboo and prunus along the exterior and alternating panels of flower sprays and prunus on the cavetto. Edo Period (1615-1868). Love that blue decoration and inside rim.

Small tankard for vermouth (Du Paquier, c1730), with E&H Manners, London. People would think you were drinking tea on a video call (although it’s perhaps a bit undersized to deceive at 8.1 cm tall) #c18 #c18th #18thc

Commemorating Memorial Day by remembering and posting these photos of my grandfather in uniform, taken in a studio before he was shipped off to France in 1918. Quite a lot of military service in my family, six of my great-great grandfathers fought in the American Civil War.

An early (circa 1725) tapering tobacco jar manufactured at Mennecy, decorated with applied flowering prunus branches and painted with polychrome flower sprigs. An interesting combination of painted flowers and raised floral decoration inspired by Meissen and imported porcelain from China.

One of six late-18th century Meissen dinner plates with a raised basket weave design along the rims, each decorated with 'deutsche blumen' sprays throughout, with other examples of flowers shown here. Several fine bouquets of spring flowers, though it's more like summer in NYC today.

A Worcester porcelain tea cup and saucer decorated in the 'Old Scarlet Japan' pattern with gilt Kakiemon decoration within reserves alternating with panels with a reddish-orange ground and gilt fretwork with rosettes. Made about 1780; other factories copied the pattern into the 19th century.

A porcelain cup and saucer with polychrome decoration of seated figures drinking and toasting, in landscapes. Made at the Sceaux factory, outside of Paris, circa 1760. After I got it I found it listed in an old auction catalogue I had from June of 1911. À votre santé!

Bugs! Part of my collection of Chantilly porcelain with Kakiemon decoration, made around 1740. Try to find all the crazy insects and butterflies (it’s not too difficult).

Pieces from Estonia’s largest private collection of Delft, in a temporary exhibition at the Mikkeli Museum (the former kitchen building of the Kadriorg Palace), Tallinn #c18 #c18th #18thc

Two Sèvres porcelain lobed dinner plates (assiettes à palmes) decorated with sprays and bouquets of flowers and scrolling blue lines on raised decoration. Both made circa 1762. A standard 'stock' pattern but still rather nicely-decorated. (see ALT).

A Sèvres tray with seven ice cups (tasses à glaces) in the feuille de choux (cabbage leaf) pattern. Marked with dates from 1771 to 1789. Ready for ice cream. Come to think of it, I'm always ready for ice cream.

The Walpole Silver Gilt Seal Salver made for Robert Walpole circa 1717, by William Lukin, engraved by Joseph Sympson. Saw this at Doyle New York over the weekend, a very impressive gilt silver tazza with quite a history. Estimate $80K-$120K, on sale tomorrow. (ALT)

A partly-printed autographed letter addressed to Napoléon's Minister of War, in French, signed on the verso by Jean Bernadotte as General of the Western Army. Dated 3 Messidor, Year 9 (22 June 1801). Seventeen years before he became King Charles XIV Jean of Sweden. Quite a career choice.

A small etching by James A.M. Whistler: Little Putney Bridge. Second state of two, 1879. A fine landscape, lots of 'white space' below that elevates the composition and detail.

The Annual Wretchedness, a.k.a The Met Gala, has invaded my neighborhood. Ten city blocks and a museum shut down so that current music and hip-hop stars, Netflix actors and Kardashians can wear ridiculous outfits for their PR agencies, while tormenting an army of personal assistants. Helicopters!

The green drawing room, Kina Slott, Drottningholm #c18 #c18th #18thc

An early Qing dynasty (late 17th century) Chinese porcelain hexagonal cup and saucer decorated with a floral and lappet pattern in underglaze blue and with a border of alternating horizontal bands on the inside rim of the cup. Sharp lines and geometry.

A Chantilly porcelain tea cup and saucer both with a blue rim and painted with floral sprays in underglaze blue. Made during the third quarter of the eighteenth century. Plain and fancy.

An assembled set of four large and small white molded porcelain knife handles in the form of artichoke leaves with modern steel blade replacements within silver ferrules. 18th century. Not sure of the manufacturer, but unpainted artichoke handles were a popular design, especially at Saint-Cloud.

From @theathletic.com: Sabastian Sawe broke the men’s marathon world record at the London Marathon on Sunday with a time of 1:59:30. Sawe is the first person to run the distance in under two hours in a legal race, and he has now won all four major marathons that he has raced. trib.al/uTxgx0R

Double-spouted sauceboat (Chantilly, c1775) #c18 #c18th #18thc

Last year I won at auction this porcelain covered soup bowl and stand and had it shipped from London to New York. It arrived in this mega-crate! Crazy. Took me an hour to get the crate open. Well, at least it arrived safely.

A circa 1775 Sèvres molded porcelain salt cellar decorated with a floral spray on each side, gilt line on the base and blue lines with gilt dashes. A fairly simple design, appropriately known as the "salière simple" in factory records. Lots of wear to the gilding but it's still quite usable. (ALT)

Newly installed at the Gardiner Museum, Toronto: all 463 pieces of Rosalie Sharp’s magnificent donation of blue and white tin-glazed earthenware and porcelain (16th century to #c18 #c18th #18thc)

Two porcelain pomade pots with covers both decorated with underglaze blue lambrequins below the rims and along the outer edge of the lids. One is decorated along the base with alternating crossed lines in blue, the other with blue scales. Both made at the Saint-Cloud factory circa 1720.

This Patek Philippe pocket watch that was once owned by John Jacob Astor IV sold at auction earlier today. At Freeman's it sold for $1,024,000. It's had quite a journey. (see ALT)

A Sèvres porcelain glass cooler manufactured in the second half of the 18th century. A smaller version of a bottle cooler, it sits on a gilt pedestal and is decorated with scattered flowers and parallel blue lines with gilt dashes on the base and rim. For rinsing your wine glass between courses.

A circa 1765 Sèvres biscuit porcelain figure ("La Coureur") of a young boy, placed on a square base. Modeled by Étienne-Maurice Falconet. Not sure I'd entitle him "The Runner", he looks more like "Anxiety" because he needs a well-deserved break from the current news cycle.

18th century Meissen porcelain bear in the Zwinger Museum, Dresden. Photo taken last summer, a 20th century North American male holding up a cell phone/camera appears nearby.

A circa 1752 Vincennes porcelain cup and saucer, decorated with Meissen-inspired holzschnitt-blumen (wood-cut) flower sprays and gilt line rims. I rather like that scrolling twisty gilt handle on the cup.

Hey, #ceramics enthusiasts of Bluesky! Does anyone know if the archives of Thomas Goode, the London china and glass retailer from 1827 to 2024, ended up in a public collection? The V&A perhaps? I'd like to see if I can track down some purchases in the 1920s

Two Chinese Export porcelain octagonal dishes made for the French market, circa 1775, with underglaze blue and gilt floral decoration along the rims surrounding the arms of Chaumont-en-Vexin. I rather like the simple armorial with the sun above and below a mountain in blue. (see ALT)

Got close up to this amazing pocket watch once owned by John Jacob Astor IV, for sale at Freeman’s auction house here next week. It was found on him when his body was recovered after he lost his life during the sinking of the Titanic exactly 114 years ago today.

Meissen vase (c1745), at Bonhams, Paris (est. €10,000-15,000) #c18 #c18th #18thc

A black lacquer tray with gilt bronze lobed leaf-cast mounts and handles, the lacquer decorated with ducks and reeds on a black background, with a four-legged ormolu cast bronze wood stand. Once belonged to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor; sold at auction in 1997 for $27,600. (I paid less, see ALT)

A porcelain faceted knife handle decorated with a Japanese-inspired scene of a man with a parasol, a wading stork, temple and flowering plants in blue, green, yellow and brown. From the Villeroy factory, circa 1740. Lovely colors.

Scoreboard for billiards (Sèvres, 1786), Versailles #c18 #c18th #18thc

A circa 1740 Chantilly porcelain tea cup with handle and a cover with a flower bud finial, with a saucer, all with applied floral decoration in imitation of Chinese Dehua wares. Simple decoration overall but quite the handle on that cup.

A porcelain ("Veduta") cup and saucer attributed to the KPM factory circa 1840, the cup with an Empire-style scrolling handle, painted with an illustrated landscape view of the Museum du Berlin (now the Altes Museum), which opened in 1830. Heavily gilt throughout, finely-painted.

An architectural drawing in black ink and gray and pink wash over pencil and inscribed in brown ink, depicting two separate designs of an exterior two-story palace edifice, one with an interior view of a stairway. French, circa 1800. I rather like the diagonal shadows.

Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, Virginia on this day in 1865. This is one of my great-great grandfathers who was a soldier there, Ezekiel Hudgins. When it was over he walked back the 165 miles to his home on the Chesapeake Bay. He returned to his work as a ship's carpenter and died in 1924.

A 19th century porcelain coffee cup decorated with rose arrangements, gilt bands and grisaille neoclassical urn-and-swag decoration. Probably Paris porcelain and from some obscure factory nearby. The gilt mark is unknown to me and I can't find it in Danckert so if you recognize it let me know!

That kind of day.

Two Bow coffee cups circa 1752-65, one with rounded handle and decorated with Chinese figures amongst rocks and foliage, the other a coffee can with a double scroll handle and decorated with peonies and rocks. The same colors on each but entirely different in shape and decoration. Tea vs. Coffee.

A circa 1783 Sèvres small porcelain coffee cup (gobelet litron, 4th size) decorated with interlaced gilt laurel leaves surrounding two blue lines and with vertically-placed flower bud decoration along the sides. "Espresso"-sized. And it looks like spring is finally here. (see ALT)

A circa 1910 postcard I bought many years ago. An interesting design. Happy Easter!

A circa 1730 Meissen porcelain octagonal bowl decorated along the exterior in a kakiemon pattern of flowers and banded hedges and two women holding flowers. The interior is decorated with the figures of two boys and two mythical creatures (shishi, probably) in blue. The colors are amazing.

A circa 1756 Sèvres green ground ewer and basin in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, in Paris. Rococo lavishness bordering on science fiction. And a circa 1757 silver version of the same pairing also in the Musée. It was the "bathroom sink" of the time and made of silver and later ceramic. (ALT)

A circa 1820 Derby porcelain coffee can, saucer and plate all decorated with a red leaf and gilt foliage pattern along the upper rims and with gilt concentric bands. A fairly simple design, I think the darkened sections on the red leaves elevates the decoration. (see ALT)

A porcelain cup and saucer manufactured at the Kõnigliche Porzellan-Manufaktur (KPM) factory circa 1830, the flaring cup with an Empire-style solidly-gilt scrolling handle, the front inscribed and illustrated with a view of the Neues Palais in the Sansoucci Park in Potsdam. Heavy gilding!