“Teapot Mark” Vases

After finishing my last post about the two little Gabriel Fourmaintraux vases, I suddenly remembered two more tiny vases I acquired sometime last year.

I suspected that they were French, possibly from Limoges and, since they were gorgeous and fairly inexpensive, I bought them.

At the time I couldn’t identify the maker’s marks on the bases but I’ve just been re-reading the section on miniature ceramics in Liza Antrim’s ‘Family Dolls’ Houses of the 18th and 19th Centuries’* and I had another lightbulb moment when she mentioned a factory which used a “teapot mark”.

It’s suddenly clear that the marks on my vases are tiny teapots!

This is what Liza’s book says about them:

Many china articles were made in France and Germany for the dolls’ house in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and they are much more suitably sized for the twelfth scale of the more modern house. A factory which used a teapot mark produced the nicest pieces, ranging from cabaret and custard sets, to little boxes, ink wells and vases. They are certainly French (many still bear French retailers’ labels) and they are beautifully decorated, some imitating 18th century pieces in the Sevres style, some with ‘fancy’ birds or flowers, others more contemporary or Oriental.”

Hoorah! Nothing makes me happier than discovering these little snippets about pieces in my collection! 

Here are the vases where they live, in the rather bling and blousey dining room of Southsea Villa. 

Until next time,
Zoe

* If you don’t already own a copy of this Liza’s wonderful book, you really are missing a treat! It, and her equally delicious second volume, ‘Family & Friends’ Dolls’ Houses of the 17th, 18th & 19th Centuries’, can be bought via Liza’s Cider House Books website.