First Period Worcester Scale Blue Garniture Vase 1770-1775

We have for sale a very decorative 18th century Worcester garniture vase dating to around 1770-1775. This lovely early George III period scale blue garniture vase of the Chinese form is of an ovoid baluster shape and is decorated with two large gilt scrollwork cartouches painted with flowers against a white ground. The base of the vase carries the Worcester underglaze blue seal mark. Garniture porcelain describes ceramics primarily used for interior decoration of important rooms in a house. The garniture fashion was initiated when the first Chinese porcelain started to reach Europe in around 1603 as a result of the capture of the huge Portuguese treasure ship the "Santa Clara" by the Dutch Navy. The cargo of this ship contained huge quantities of gold, raw silk and fine Chinese blue and white porcelain. Chinese porcelain in Europe at this time was very rare and was literally worth its weight in gold. This cargo was sold in Amsterdam and represents the first time that Chinese porcelain was sold in bulk in Western Europe. Needless to say, the porcelain was snapped up by the rich and powerful who then to demonstrate their wealth, culture and taste built rooms in which their rare and hugely expensive collections of what by then became known as Kraak porcelain could be displayed. The fashion was brought to England when William III Prince of Orange (Grandson of Charles I of England) and his wife Mary (daughter of James I of England) acceded the English throne in 1688 following the English Glorious Revolution and the escape of James II to Europe. The fashion for garniture porcelain continued into the late 19th to early 20th century and all the great Georgian houses incorporated structural features such as ornate shelf rich fireplaces, shelves above doorways and what have since become known as delft racks to accommodate and display their priceless ceramics. However, by the late 18th century the hard paste Chinese porcelain in these collections was steadily being augmented with equally expensive early soft paste porcelain produced by English manufacturers such as Chelsea, Derby and Worcester, see “Armorial Porcelain The Genesis” by Rachel L. Denyer, Morgan C.T. Denyer and Howell G.M. Edwards, Springer Nature, ISBN 978-3-031-63744-5, 2024. This particular Worcester garniture vase is 8 inches (20.5cm) high and is in an excellent decorative condition, but it does have an extremely good museum grade invisible repair to the neck.