New short video with examples of 18th century Meissen harbour and landscape scenes. youtu.be/wvRnNOoh01A?...

I love this teapot. It sheer #Meissen class with its beautiful hand painted botanical painting set within a yellow ground. I will let you know by mid January if it’s in my collection 👍🏾 or not….👎 Circa 1740.

For those of you who may have been hiding under a rock for December and missed my ceramic advent calendar here is an edited version of it! Hope you enjoyed it! Have a very Merry Christmas and a fantastic New Year!

And so we arrive at our final destination! Behind door number 24 of my advent calendar are these beautiful trio of #Meissen saucers and duo of handled cups. Circa 1740. Each are decorated with one or two harbour and landscape scenes with gilded quatrefoil cartouches. Happy Christmas all! 🎁🎄🧑‍🎄

Behind door 23 of my advent calendar is this Meissen saucer circa 1740. It has been painted by the hausmaler Johann Friederich Metzsch who ran a workshop in Bayreuth. On the base the Meissen crossed swords have been extended to form the letter M for Metzsch with Bayr beneath for Bayreuth.

Behind door number 22 of my advent calendar is this #Kangxi period ginger jar. It has three ogee-shaped panels depicting various "precious objects" or "antiquities, set within an ice cracked background with plum blossoms, symbolising optimism and the promise of spring. Circa 1700.

This Christmas, I will be showcasing two Christmas jumpers. But which one should I wear out to the pub today and which one should I save for Christmas Day? 1. Poundshop Xmas special jumper with all the trimmings. 2. Biffy Clyro with Christmas hats and barded wire decoration?

Behind door number 21 of my ceramics advent calendar, we have this wonderful #Meissen quatrefoil dish, painted with a couple admiring architectural ruins. They are centred within two iron red concentric lines. The shape of the dish resembles a flower.

At this time of year the men playing football on these late Victorian pipe bowls remind me of the football game that took place between soldiers at the Somme on Christmas Day 1914 in WWI.

Go and get historically seasonal! 🧑‍🎄

Behind door number 20 of my ceramics advent calendar is something slightly different. This is a King George III period wooden tea caddy with a sliding door and secret tray used to conceal a silver spoon. Circa 1780.

Behind door number 19 of my virtual ceramics advent calendar is this lovely Meissen saucer. It is handpainted and shows a couple in a landscape. The figures are derived from The art of the 18th century artist Jean-Antoine Watteau who unfortunately only lived to the age of 36.

Behind door number 18 of my advent calendar is this delightful pair of #Meissen saucers handpainted with birds of paradise with a blue scale patterned border. Such patterns were introduced into Meissen decorative schemes during the Seven Years War (1756-63). Circa 1760

Good West London Museums Group meeting this afternoon at Fulham Palace. Afterwards we had a great guided tour with community archaeologist, Alexis Haslam. Interestingly the moat fed by the Thames was once over a mile long. Today only a small section remains.

Sometimes plain is better- Behind door number 17 of my advent calendar is this lovely early #Meissen Blanc de Chine mug scroll, circa 1715,with identical applied reliefs from the same mould. At the V&A.

Please give me a like if you are enjoying my ceramics advent calendar as far?

Behind door no.15 of my ceramics calendar is this Bland de Chine #Meissen teapot c. 1740. It copies in appearance Asian Blanc de wares made in the #Dehua kilns, #Fujian,China. The pattern of vines & grapes is after found on clay teapots from #Yixing, & sometimes accompanied by squirrels (photo 4)

youtu.be/M7Cbmr-y8zY?... The latest London Luminaries talk featuring Ed Harris from the Twickenham Museum is now on You Tube! Follow the link below to watch. Happy viewing!

We remain open this month on Sunday 14th, Friday 19th, Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st. We will reopen Friday 2nd January. We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy festive holiday and we look forward to seeing you at the museum in 2026! 🎁🧑‍🎄🌲👍

m.facebook.com/story.php?st... please help the museum of Richmond get these important historic pieces back.

Unlucky for some but not for me, behind door number 13 on my ceramic advent calendar is this rare Wedgwood and Bentley basalt dish that dates between 1769 and 1780. The base is clearly impressed with Wedgwood & Bentley. Another example can be found at the MET. www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

Looking forward to reading Sam Smile’s book ‘Turner and the Slave Trade’ after finishing the excellent ‘The Zorg’ by Siddharth Kara. I have my own views on this and it concerns JMW Turner’s love of money surpassing all else.

Behind door number 11 of my advent calendar is this #Meissen saucer which is decorated with a rare winter scene including skaters on a lake. The source for this is Dutch engravings as lakes and rivers would often freeze over in Holland in a period known as the little ice age. Circa 1730-35.

Behind door number 10 of my advent calendar is this well painted #Meissen slop bowl. The bowl is finally painted with landscape & harbour scenes within quatrefoil gilded cartouches. The interior has another harbour scene within double red concentric circles. Circa 1730-35.

Is this the most obscure Last Supper painting you have ever seen?

Behind door number eight of my Christmas advent calendar lies two 19th century pug dogs and a pup! All three are beautifully painted with one on a mossy stand. Blue Crossed swords with impressed and scratched numbers.

Behind door number 7 of my advent calendar, we have this #Yongzheng saucer, c. 1730, showing a dragon chasing the fiery pearl. On the base are concentric circles containing scholars objects. Similar patterns were copied by English manufacturers such as Worcester. www.vam.ac.uk/blog/blue-an...

Behind door number six of my Christmas ceramics calendar we have this #Meissen saucer decorated in the Imari style. On the base triple iron red concentric circles derived from Asian examples. Blue crossed swords with number 5 between the blades. Circa 1735.

Day 2 of the JMW Turner symposium at Tate. Very interesting! @tate.bsky.social

Day 2 of the JMW Turner symposium at Tate Britain followed by a volunteers drink reception at Sir John Soane’s museum this evening. Turner & Soane- a match made in heaven (or at least somewhere near…)

Behind door number five of my Christmas advent calendar are these three lovely Meissen cups, all of which date circa 1735 and 1740. They all have either landscape or harbour scenes within a quatrefoil cartouche and set against a yellow ground. Gilder’s number and crossed swords to the base.

Another series of excellent talks at today’s JMW Turner symposium at Tate Britain. Curator Andrew Loukes to finish day number 1. @Tate

I’m looking forward to the two day symposium on JMW Turner which takes place today at Tate Britain. If you’re going, please come and say “hello”

Behind door number 4 of my Christmas Callander is this lovely 18th century nephrite jade dog with natural russet inclusions. The dog sits in a natural position, its body slightly turned to the right.

Just putting it back out there….. Masonic Symbolism in the Blue Velvet Room at Chiswick House’. First published in ‘The Square’, 2018 #Freemasonry #Masonic #MasonicSymbolism #EighteenthCentury

There is still time to book a ticket for tomorrow evenings (04/11/25) online talk, the last in the present series. Ed Harris will be talking about the Twining Tea Dynasty and social housing in and around Twickenham. Book here- londonluminaries.com/talk/tea-and...

Behind door number 3 on my Christmas advent colander is ‘Bugs the word!’! A #Meissen saucer and cup with scattered, shadowed insects after Johann Gottfried Klinger, with flowers and buds. Circa 1740-50.

Behind door number two of my ceramics Christmas calendar is this beautiful #Meissen saucer, painted with a scene of a ling cat and cubs. The outside with decorated with purple scale. This type of decoration was introduced into Meissen during the Seven Years War (1756-63). Circa 1760.

Behind door number one of my ceramics Christmas calendar is this lovely Blanc de Chine #Meissen teapot. Circa 1735.

I can’t help but think that this depiction of a gentleman on a piece of early 18th Meissen porcelain looks like a tv aerial. If not that then a garden rake. What do people think?

Go and visit before Santa comes down the chimney! 🎁🎄🌲🧑‍🎄🤶

A very rare #Meissen pouring cup, this example decorated with #chinoiserie figures set within a quatrefoil cartouches with gilding to the base ring and inside edge of the cup. Yellow ground. Early crossed swords with blue concentric circle. Decorated interior of the cup.

Ceramics currently on view at the Twickenham Museum. In the 18th century the building (which today houses the museum) was owned by the Twining family, giants in burgeoning tea trade. Includes #Kangxi period wares, #Meissen and #Wedgwood. @twickenhammuseum.bsky.social

2 tickets have become available for this Saturday’s Pope’s Grotto opening (Saturday 22nd November) between 10.00am & 12.30am. If you would like to visit this remarkable 18th century survival, tickets are £10 and can be purchased here- www.ticketsource.co.uk/popesgrotto/... A perfect Xmas treat!

Two tickets have become available for this Saturday’s Pope’s Grotto opening (Saturday 22nd November) between 10.00am and 12.30am. If you would like to visit this remarkable 18th century survival, tickets are £10 and can be purchased here- www.ticketsource.co.uk/booking/sele... A perfect treat!

Grotto visits are currently sold out for the remainder of this year, but new dates for the first part of 2026 have been scheduled. Tickets will be available online beginning January 1 and are expected to sell quickly. www.ticketsource.co.uk/popesgrotto?... Thank you to all our visitors of 2025!

A fantastic 18th century grotto visited by the likes of Voltaire and Thomas Jefferson!

I think the influence of Piranesi’s etching, “Dark Prison with a Courtyard for the Torture of Criminals …”, c1750 was a major influence for the arrangement of facing arches in Sir John Soane’s dome at his museum at number 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields.

sal.org.uk/event/hats-off/ This will be so much fun! November 19 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm Past Matters: Hats off to Tradition – Tales from The Cocked Hat Club Click on the link to reserve tickets