BACKGROUND
Oh My!
While my wife has been handing me a LOT of her treasured English chinaware (that needs to live in a new home due to space issues) she handed me this stunning example of "Dresden lace" porcelain that she says must make way for some Royal Doulton figurines she is now focusing on.
Actually, if the truth be known, she has a couple of earlier "Dresden's" from Oswald Lorenz which are in "perfect health" including the lace which she considers to be "keepers" in her collection at the moment but this example of later Dresden lace does have some MINOR lace damage - and so it has been asked (ever so nicely) to leave home and find another cabinet to live in ...
Our purpose in offering this example of Dresden Lace is to provide the opportunity to owning, holding and cherishing this type porcelain and perhaps "sparking" further interest in this unique porcelain, perhaps even looking at acquiring earlier (pre-WWII before the industry was largely destroyed) pieces in the future (warning! you will need to look far and wide plus have "deep pockets")
It is most important to read the COSMETIC CONDITION report below about this ...
I refer to this piece as stunning because it has been very skilfully hand decorated, with attention paid to the facial expression of the lady. This would have taken many, many hours of painstaking craftpersonship to create and decorate this porcelain piece.
This porcelain maker was one of the "later" entrants into the Dresden Lace world, having begun production in the early 1950's and they did continue production of fine porcelain until the early 2000's
Now, please sit down, have a "cuppa" and read all about this very desirable porcelain piece ...
SANDIZELL (Herr Höfner) - Noble Lady Waiting To Receive
Made in Saxony, Germany
Circa early 1950's
The decoration clearly depicts a noble lady clothed in a very full dress, sitting on her luxurious single seater seat with her companion pet parrot to one side of the seat.
Her facial appearance and expression seems to suggest she is of middle age and quite a serious lady, with a stern look.
Why is she sitting like this? In the 17th & 18th centuries it was an established part of social etiquette for a noble lady to sit in her private drawing room, awaiting to "receive" visitors for the purpose of paying respects, socialising or maintaining networks.
Now there is Dresden lace and then again there is Dresden lace ... some pieces have just a touch of the lace here and there, other pieces feature extensive use of this paste porcelain technique. This piece is a good example of the latter, Dresden lace everywhere!
While my wife is drawn to fine English chinaware, this porcelain work of art is in an entirely different class though ... it is not the porcelain but the Dresden lace and exquisite decorative work that places this type of creation into another class altogether.
When looking through her hands, you can see her bodice deep inside the porcelain and it has been just as skilfully decorated. It must have taken some very skilled and painstaking work to decorate such a small, difficult to reach area of this piece.
Not a lavishly multi-coloured piece, being substantially dominated by the Baby Pink two layer dress, White frill work and of course the Yellow parrot to her side (plus a small flower or two if you look closely)
Heavy Gold gilding has been applied to her shoes and on the luxurious seat.
DIMENSIONS:
115mm (4.5") wide x 140mm (5") height x 120mm (4.75") front-back
The large single seat has three feet so that it sits stably on a level surface
WEIGHT: 450g (around 1 Pound)
The base is a pure White glazed porcelain (except for the porcelain maker's mark) and most importantly, provides a stable base to the piece! No pieces of felt or other foreign materials have been added to the base area
MAKERS MARK
Here is the mark attributed to the porcelain maker Sandizell, clearly visible on the underside. Note the usual 5 point Crown but with the double ring (most other German fine porcelain makers used a single ring)
This snapshot is from the piece we are offering, not something we copy//pasted from an online source (Yes, I have actually seen this happen - Goodness Me)!
COSMETIC CONDITION:
Here's the crunch! ... excuse the choice of words
My wife's "Dresden collection" began with this piece some 35 years ago ... in one of those lovely "Antiquity Emporiums" crammed full of interesting hand crafted works of various kinds. She spotted this lady and just fell in love, not with the lady but the special porcelain paste lacework - it was so unique for her. Yes, it was not perfect (see below) but the asking price was fair and the damage not extensive so it came home with us.
If you are a "rate it out of 10" type of person, we both consider this piece to be 8.5/10
Here is a detailed "blow by blow" honest description of the piece
NO missing porcelain (including the lacework) sections!
NO damage to the porcelain seat, meaning that there are no chips or cracks
NO observable crazing at all
NO discolouration to the Baby Pink lacework or the White frill work
HOWEVER ... With all that said, there is some "minor" damage and here are the details
As with all examples of Dresden Lace, you need to observe all of the lace very carefully. It is very delicate and with a decent knock, will fall away.
Please look at the copious photographs to visualise the damage I am about to reveal!
Front - centre - lower row of lacework
A small section of the Pink lace is missing
Front - right hand side edge - lower row of lacework
A small section of the Pink lace is missing
Front - right hand edge - upper row of lacework
A small hole in the lacework
Front - right hand edge - upper row of lacework (right next to her elbow)
It appears that some lace could be missing here, the porcelain lace appears to stop abruptly and feels rough on the edge.
Neck area - White lace
I am not sure about this area, in a couple of spots it looks as though the White lace is incomplete
The Parrot
Oh, dear Polly had an accident! ... the tail of the parrot protrudes from the side of the seat. This protrusion has been "knocked off" and the parrot has lost it's tail!
I do not observe any other little flaws and certainly the obvious things such as her fingers are in perfect condition.
One thing we should warn new owners about this piece ... so often visitors were fascinated by this piece and wanted to touch and feel it, not believing it was porcelain and not real lace (although originally it was actually lace material prior to the porcelain hard paste treatment)
Best to point out to such visitors "look but don't touch, please"!
Since we have done taking a few photographs and describing this piece as best we can, it has now been placed in a sealed clear plastic (dirt/dust protection) and then within a custom made (strong) cardboard box with plenty of "cushioning"
When this is being shipped, it will be again boxed within another "outer" (i.e double boxed) to provide maximum protection to the delicate porcelain.
We have decided to offer this very nice example of "later" (Post WWII) Dresden porcelain lace entirely FREE of shipping costs, whether it's new home is in Australia, NZ, Canada, UK or much of Asia. Australian and International shipping is via Australia Post, insured and with tracking.
NO! We do not under any circumstances offer items to USA or Europe (the EU bloc is also starting to close their doors to outside trade) any longer as their trade protectionist, anti-"open door" trade policies (which they have recently bought into effect) mean that it is simply not financially worthwhile for ourselves or our clients to trade with those markets ... far too unstable these days as the rules seem to change day by day! USA in particular is a perfect example of a Super Power in decline, wallowing in it's own self pity with the emergence of a new Super Power in the East. I recently was asked to ship USA Designed & Made broadcast equipment BACK to USA but the fees, duties, "misc charges" tripled the selling price! Just absolutely ludicrous as this was THEIR own equipment being imported back to USA. Crazy times ...
