German New York Rudolstadt Pierced Porcelain Vase w Hand Painted Purple Lavender Dahlias c 1887

022816-2/RL-876

This is a German New York & Rudolstadt hard paste porcelain vase that is totally pierced. The date is circa 1887.

The vase is 7 ¼” high and 3 ¾” wide at the body.

The vase is exceptional. For one, pierced porcelain is difficult for porcelain makers to produce and this vase is all about symmetrical holes in the blank. Two, the shape of the mold has the dahlias and leaves climbing up each side of the front of the vase, and the flowers and leaves are part of the blank, not an add-on, and then the artist painted the flowers and leaves. Third, the bands of gilding are hand painted, not a transfer, with tiny blue beads of enamel placed on top of the bands around the lower neck and upper body. Third, over the rest of the outside of the vase are hand applied tiny beads of gold enamel. This vase was very labor intensive in the production and decoration. It is a high quality vase.

Rudolstadt was a porcelain factory in Thuringia, Germany. The USA importer, Lewis Straus & Sons, was a co-owner at the time this vase was produced, thus the name of the company was New York & Rudolstadt. There is no import mark on the vase, so the vase may have been decorated by the factory and not the importer, and also sold in Germany and not imported into the USA.

There are no chips, nicks, cracks or crazing. There are only a few tiny beads of blue and gold missing; 99% of the beads are intact.

The blue mark is a crown over a coat of arms containing the letters RW. There is a number 4 hand enameled in gold. There is an impressed number 59 and an impressed number 3264.