Catalog (90)

The Vũng Tàu shipwreck is a shipwreck that was found in the South China Sea off the islands of Côn Đảo about 100 miles from Vũng Tàu, Vietnam in 1692. The wreck was of alorcha boat—a Chinese vessel with Portuguese influences that has been dated to about 1690. It was found by a fisherman who had picked up numerous pieces of porcelain from the wreck while fishing. Sverker Hallstrom identified the wreck and its cargo in 1990. Australian diver Michael Flecker took charge of the archaeologi...

Most likely French, 19th century. A nineteenth-imitation of the extremely popular souvenir boxes made in Bilston at the end of the eighteenth century (see 5218-18). However, it clearly dates to the late nineteenth century. The lug and ribbed banding on the metal hinge, and the inferior quality of the painting identify this box as a nineteenth-century creation. It’s also important to note that the use of the French on the lid is not indicative of its origin, but rather another attempt at eight...

Antique Italian Carved and Gilt Wood Mirror having openwork foliate decoration. Minor distress to the Plate. Circa 1860

Mirror: 18 ½” x 14 ½”
Frame: 28” x23”

Fine Antique Sorrento Ware Tea Caddy in Olivewood, inlaid on all sides and top with different scenes of peasants and with tumbridge type inlaid borders. Italian, circa 1870.

Height: 4"
Width 5.25"
Depth 4.5" .

Small Antique Domed Top Penwork Sewing Box, having a hooped handle above a domed lid decorated with a scene of abby ruins, canted sides, and a front panel with scrolled, foliate decoration. Circa 1800, probably English. (overall scratches)

4" tall without the handle, 6 1/4" with it up, 5 3/8 " deep and 5 1/2 "wide not including the handle

Antique American Federal Octagonal Tea Caddy, in mahogany the hinged top with satinwood stringing and banding opens to an interior well with a “floating” lid. Circa 1800.

See #10802 for another caddy by the same unknown maker

Height: 5”
Width: 6.5”

English Gilt Wood Mirror

Size: 31.5” x 26.5”

Fine 18th-century English carved and gilt wood mirror with corner rosettes and later, distressed mirror plate. Circa 1760-80.

Cartouche-shaped black marble plaque inset with oval micromosaic panels depicting Roman archaeological scenes (clockwise from upper left): the Coliseum, the Temple of Hercules, the Roman Forum and the Pantheon. Those four panels surround the Doves of Pliny, an image often used in micromosaics, which comes from a Roman floor mosaic at Hadrian’s villa in Tivoli and is believed to be a copy of a lost ancient Greek mosaic at Pergamon described by Pliny the elder.

Such items were ...

Rare Chinese export carved wood tea caddy in the form of an eggplant with leaf form screw lid. Early 19th century.

Height: 4.5”

Fine pair of Antique French Louis XVI style ormolu candlesticks with circular bases with laurel leaf decoration and tapered, fluted shafts with applied laurel swags. Late 19th-century, now wired as lamps.

Provenance: from the collection of Ron Van Swerengen

Height to Shade: 25.5”

Exceptional English Domed Top Tea caddy in harewood with satinwood stringing and brass carrying handles and interior fitted with compartments for teas and sugar bowl. Circa 1800.

Height: 6.75"
Length: 12"
Width: 5. 75"

18th-century English Transferware Patch Box; Now known as Royal Leamington Spa, the town of Leamington began its prodigious spa industry in 1784 when it began building baths around its salt springs. Consequently, the image on this patch box displays a Classical figure holding a caduceus, a symbol of the medical community dating back the sixteenth century. Thus, it is safe to say that this could have been produced no earlier than the last quarter of the eighteenth century. In addition, this box...

Antique English small barrel in lignum vitae with ivory stopper and later brass spout. Early-mid 19th century.

Length: 9"

On Monday January 3, 1752, the Dutch East India Company, (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC) ship Geldermalsen, struck a reef on her return journey to the Netherlands and sank in the South China Sea. Of the crew 32 survived and 80 went down with the ship and her cargo of tea, raw silk, textiles, dried wares, groceries, lacquer and porcelain. The "Nanking cargo" is the modern name given to the porcelain cargo.

 The cargo of Chinese porcelain was originally potted in Jingdezhen, Ji...

English, Bilston, late 18th century, patch box,

These memento boxes were popular at the end of the eighteenth century and frequently given as tokens of friendship and love. Usually oval in shape, but also circular and rectangular, the decoration reflected the popular styles of the day. For example, by the 1790s Neoclassical style swags, doves, hearts, and borders were the most commonly used decoration of the day. This one reads "The Absent Not Forgotten."

Source:
Susan Benjamin. En...

Antique Chinese Export Rouge Lacquer Tea Caddy with faux painted brass banding; rectangular with brass carrying handles and gilt decoration, the hinged lid opening to a large pewter removable box with hinged lid and engraved decoration of figures in a landscape. Circa 1870. (rubbing to painted banding)

11.5" x 7.75" x 5.5" tall

5218-21: English, Bilston, late 18th century, patch box these memento boxes were popular at the end of the eighteenth century and frequently given as tokens of friendship and love. Usually oval in shape, but also circular and rectangular, there decoration reflected the popular styles of the day. For example, by the 1790s Neoclassical style swags, doves, hearts, and borders were the most commonly used decoration of the day. This box reads "Unity is the bond of society."

Antique English Pearlware Tea Caddy with blue and white chinoiserie decoration. Circa 1780-1800.