19C Staffordshire Chicks Popping out of Eggs on Nest

Antiques : Ceramics, Porcelain

 

This is a wonderful antique piece of Staffordshire. What an addition to the Staffordshire hen on nest collection this is one of the ultimate pieces and very hard to find. It is a lidded pottery dish meant to hold eggs in the mid to late 1800s. On the top are two hand painted charming chicks. One has a little egg shell stuck to it's bottom with the rest of the shell in front of it. The other is just pipping or coming out of the egg. There is bocage or spaghetti around the bottom of both egg shells, like hay or grass. All details are hand painted. The bottom is in the form of a woven basket. Details are wonderful and charming. It measures 6.5 x 5 x 6 inches. There is a faint hand painted 41 on top and bottom they are original to each other. Condition wise there are flea bites around the interior edge of the nest and the one chick hatching has three little spots behind it's head where a tiny piece of egg shell once stuck up (those tiny lines in the last photo) otherwise in excellent condition.

Item ID: 716