Royal Worcester - Pair of Japanese style Vases, England 1877

Pair of Japanese style baluster-shaped vases with cut sides in Royal Worcester porcelain. They are decorated with a rotating decor of seascapes in blue monochrome enhanced with gold, flown over by cranes. Flanked by grimacing masks-shaped handles, they rest on four claw feet topped by palmettes.

Biography :
On the retirement of William Henry Kerr (1823 – 1879) in 1862, The Worcester Royal Porcelain Company Limited was formed with Richard William Binns (1819 – 1900) and Edward Phillips (d.1881) as joint managing directors. Between 1851 and 1887 the Severn Street factory expanded from 70 to 700 employees. Royal Worcester kept pace with public demand for novelty in design with the development of a wide range of new materials and glazes, including glazed and unglazed Parian, earthenware, majolica and bone china. The firm concentrated on the production of figures and vases, introducing over 2500 new decorative items between 1862 and 1900. The Victorians believed that good designs from the past should be adapted and improved to create tasteful new designs. They favored a mixture of period and foreign styles including Japanese, French Empire, Persian, Indian, Renaissance and Classical Greek.

The Aesthetic Movement – In the 1860’s, after 100 years of isolation the Japanese started to trade again with Europe. In 1872 His Excellency Sionii Tomomi Iwakura, Junior Prime Minister of Japan, visited Royal Worcester and saw Japanese style wares being made for display in Vienna the following year. Japanese bronzes, ivories and prints, purchased by R.W. Binns in Europe, inspired the Worcester craftsmen who did not slavishly copy, but adapted ideas for the English market.