Featured Identifying antique decorative vases

Hello everyone,

I hope someone here can help me identify the origin of these antique vases.

I have two vases that were passed down from my grandmother, who owned them for over 50 or 60 years. She received them from her aunt, but I’m unsure of their history before that. They might be over 100 years old.

I’m located in the Netherlands, so they could potentially be from a nearby region, possibly Germany or France. I’ve tried using Google Lens and other tools but haven’t found anything similar, which makes me think they might be quite rare.

These vases are incredibly detailed and appear to have required significant craftsmanship. They look like bronze, but they’re definitely not; they might be ceramic, stoneware, or earthenware. The decorations on them include relief designs of floral motifs, putti figures, shells, and perhaps even bees at the top. There is a mark on the bottom, though the picture isn’t very clear could be letters, numbers or maybe a combination. I can take better pictures later, but they’re currently at my parents' house.

Each vase is approximately 50 cm tall and has a glaze that gives a bronze-like appearance, though it’s not very shiny. The decoration seems to feature shadows painted in to enhance the depth.

If anyone has insights or recognizes these vases, I would greatly appreciate your input!

Thank you!

 

@Any Jewelry
@Roaring20s

 

Wow. They are quite special. Thanks for sharing. Sorry but I haven't a clue what they are but I'm sure someone on here will soon enlighten you.

 

I would consider 'urn' as another term to search with, in addition to 'vase.'

The decoration immediately reminded me of the ivory carvings of Flemish masters such as Duquesnoy & Bossuit or the later relief sculptures of artists such as 'Clodion'. What is unusual here is that the little figures are clothed/draped, unlike the common unclad putti.

They are very distinctive. I hope one of our pottery/ceramics enthusiasts has an idea on maker.

 

shadows painted in to enhance the depth.

has anyone ever tried to clean them.... they look filthy.. from here..

 

I gave this a try earlier, but nothing that I would call similar.

 

Could you imagine that, when my grandma went to a nursery home, and I was the last one of the family to look in her house if there was anything I wanted which she couldn’t take, that I saw these beautiful vases (or urns, tried searching with both terms) and I thought like why the hell didn’t anyone take these

 

Good question. I don’t think they where that nasty, the colour is probably also affected by light. Especially because one is a lot darker than the other.

Besides, I wouldn’t even dare cleaning them without knowing the proper way to do it. I definitely don’t want to mess these up.

 

right, I think I’ve spent over 20 hours with a million different search terms but mostly get either real bronze vases as a result and loads of coloured vases, but nothing like this. Especially not how much figures and patterns it has.

 

They do look like it indeed. When I searched for Duquesnoy & Bossuit i saw that they, rarely, but sometimes sculptured with terracotta. I’ve never heard of it but do find more ornamented pottery with that material. The colour is often not the same but maybe my vases/urns are terracotta to?

By the way the Flemish are my neighbours so it wouldn’t be that crazy if it was inspired by them and the urns are! from Belgium.

 

Will be picking them up this weekend, give them a clean and post full 360 pictures of them here! I’ll also look for marks on other spots than at the bottom.

 

Welkom bij Antiquers, @F pul .
Very impressive urns. It must have been difficult for your grandmother that she couldn't take everything with her to the nursing home. Good that you are keeping some of her things.

Do you remember if they feel as cold as ceramic, or maybe slightly warmer? I ask because I wonder if they are actually resin.

Go easy on the cleaning until we have established what the material is.
About photos, could you take some closeups? Especially of the figures please.

Don't be put off if they turn out to be resin. They are executed beautifully, and still very impressive. There are collectors of good quality older resin items, so it is a 'thing'.

 

Thanks @Any Jewelry !

it’s never fun to have to leave the house you’ve been living for your whole life. But about the stuff, I don’t think she knew 95% of what she had, her basement was that full (en het is een aanleunwoning, dus er kon nog behoorlijk veel mee gelukkig, zag dat je Brabants was en kon niet op het woord komen).

But to be honest, money was far from an issue there so that makes me doubt that (although, you’re not always aware of what you buy). Also the age of it, I see that resin was first discovered in 1930 or something. Let alone that they were able to create such a vase. And it had been in the family for very long. I didn’t know what resin was but they were definitely not that light. I don’t remember if ther felt cold or not but I do know they did feel, how do you say it, real . I do have a picture from above because somewhere in time a piece broke of which is restored. You can actually see the grooves within the vase, which I think is a mark of hand made pottery like with a pottery wheel or something? I’ll add the picture, maybe you can say something about it based on the picture of the crack and the inside.

 

https://ibb.co/dLTJD8G

excuse me for the upload, it wasn’t working very well and can’t get it deleted

 

Aanleunwoning = assisted living facility. Yes, fortunately she has more space there than in a nursing home. I hope she is settling in alright.

Ik ben idd Brabants, uit Noord Brabant.

True, we see that often here on Antiquers.

If these turn out to be resin, they would be heavy. But that is still an 'if', just considering possibilities.
Looking forward to more photos when you get them.

 

Same here, also from Noord Brabant.
Ah, I read that is lighter than ceramic. But of course, I have no experience with it

I will upload more photos this Sunday!

 

Yay! We have another member from Brabant, forum name Ex LIbris. A veritable invasion of Brabanders.

Depends on the type of resin.

 

When you get them, try lightly running a fingernail over the outside & determine whether it is a glass-like or a matte finish. Will be very surprised if they turn out to be some sort of man made polymer. At this point think terracotta is a good bet.

Found this page really interesting because it shows what can be & has been done with terracotta:

https://www.veniceclayartists.com/alluring-terracotta-vessels-and-sculptures/

 

I’d strongly suspect Italian. They’ve got that rather florid rococo neo classical thing going on.

@Bronwen that flask on that website is interesting. I’d love to know why they think it’s Italian. The form, clay and design is very Pratt. Specifically, a water monkey.

 

Gorgeous, what a pair! If we're thinking Italian, you might consider this maker, Manifaturra di Signa. I have a piece of theirs from around 1910. If theirs, there should be a circular mark like a wreath with their name inside.


This example is more similar to your urns than mine though!
And another with the same coloring as yours.

However, I will say your depictions are more defined than what I'm seeing they tend to produce. There's an almost 'blurriness' to most of Signa's pieces that I'm not seeing on yours.