Veilleuse, or Food Warmer

England

About 1810

  • Titles Veilleuse, or Food Warmer (Descriptive)
  • Artist England
  • Medium lead-glazed earthenware (creamware)
  • Dimensions 10 1/2 x 8 x 6 in. (26.7 x 20.3 x 15.2 cm)
  • Credit Line Collection of the Art Fund, Inc. at the Birmingham Museum of Art; Catherine H. Collins Collection, AFI.290.1998a-e
  • Work Type veilleuse
  • Classification Containers

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Head in profile right.
Cup and saucer of buff-colored caneware with applied dark gray-green stoneware relief decoration in the Darwin pattern, the cup with a design of vertical fern fronds, alternating larger and smaller, and whorls of the marsh plant mare's tail, with loop handle that is angled at the top, around the rim of the saucer a band with the stem of the same plant.
Obverse: Scene from the Last Supper. Reverse: Allegory of Faith holding in her right hand a wreath of stars and in her left a cross.
The vase is heavy. The vase's form is rotund and its exterior resembles a sea urchin, with five vertical bands comprised of six columns that contain impressions of circles. The exterior is glazed and a dark khaki color with some tan at the bottom of the vase. There are some color inconsistencies in the pattern along the vase, with some tan or green areas. Along the bottom of the vase are indentations of circles of varying shapes, interspersed with no discernible pattern. Around the lip and bottom of the vase are thin, orange rings. The interior of the vase's lip and the bottom of its base are unglazed red stoneware. The vase's interior is lighter in color and greener than the exterior.