Description
Of exceptional scale and rarity, this Staffordshire porcelain pastille burner takes the form of an imposing country cottage and ranks amongst the most extraordinary examples of its type.
The cover is modeled as a picturesque cottage, its façade articulated by five Gothic-arched windows and an arched doorway with a vividly painted red door. The steeply pitched roof, formed in two principal sections, is surmounted by an elaborate central curved feature, while the sides are enriched with trailing ivy in vibrant shades of green and yellow.
The roof is particularly finely conceived, its surface carefully painted to suggest individual slate tiles and centered by a substantial red-brick chimney stack with four distinctive yellow chimneys. The combination of architectural detail and coloring gives the model an unusually strong presence.
The base is conceived as a garden setting. Delicately painted flowers and grasses in shades of green, yellow and pink surround the central well, while two circular, fenced garden plots frame the steps leading towards the cottage entrance. The resulting composition is both highly decorative and remarkably evocative, capturing the picturesque ideal of the English country garden.
Adding to the history of the piece is the curious decoration to the interior well of the base: “Mis” in script, accompanied by a hand-drawn teapot or kettle and the date 1833. Whether this represents an owner’s inscription, a personal dedication, or some other contemporary reference remains intriguing, lending the object a rare sense of individuality.
The pastille burner is further distinguished by its provenance and an unusually personal recollection. Kathy Jones, a former headmistress of a girls’ school who lived to the age of 99, fondly recalled playing with the cottage as a child, having been allowed to do so by her governess. The cherished object was subsequently passed down to her.