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Rare Antique Ceramic Arts Co. American Belleek Art Nouveau Flora-Form Basket Hand-Painted Anemone Motifs • Heavy Raised Gilding • Artist Initialed \"R\" • c. 1900
- Masterwork Mold: Intricate flora-form lily pad design featuring realistic molded leaf veins and deep ruffling.
- Premium Finish Contrast: Elegant matte bisque exterior surface paired beautifully with a brilliant, shiny glazed interior.
- Sculptural Handle: Heavily gilded, dimensional branch handle decorated with realistic botanical buds and leaves.
- Artist Signature: Hand-signed on the front with a stylized gold artist\'s initial \"R\".
Item Description
Up for your consideration is a spectacularly rare, investment-grade example of late 19th / early 20th-century American art porcelain. This magnificent flora-form basket bowl was produced in Trenton, New Jersey, by the historic Ceramic Arts Company (precursor to the legendary Lenox company) circa 1900.
The basket is masterfully designed to resemble a sculpted lily pad, complete with delicate structural veins rippling across the base and crisp, deeply ruffled outer borders. The piece features an incredible dual-texture surface: a smooth, glossy glazed interior and a soft, refined matte porcelain exterior. One side of the exterior showcases incredibly vibrant, hand-painted Art Nouveau anemone blossoms accented with raised gold outlines. These floral sprays gracefully trail over the edge into the basin of the bowl.
An elaborate, heavily gilded handle formed of intertwined branches, leaves, and plump botanical buds arches over the center. The base bears the authentic purple underglaze CAC / Ceramic Arts Co. Belleek stamp. Pieces of this scale, complexity, and outstanding state of preservation are exceptionally difficult to find.
Dimensions
- Length: 12 1/4 inches
- Width: 7 inches
- Depth: 4 1/2 inches
Condition Report
Very Good Antique Condition: This fragile porcelain piece has survived beautifully over the last 125 years. The hand-painted colors remain bright and clear, and the heavy gold gilding on the handle and rims shows superb coverage with very minimal age wear.
Condition Note: There are three (3) tiny, superficial chips along the delicate, ruffled outer edges (detailed clearly in our macro close-up photographs). These are incredibly small, blend right into the frilly contours of the porcelain shape, and do not detract from the structural stability or exceptional display value of this piece.
