A Pair of Large English Ironstone, Probably Davenport, Ovoid Vases and Covers, of sculptural baluster shape with tuned and stepped feet, applied at each side with naturalistically painted lion mask handles, the slightly domed covers with ball finials, printed in blue and painted in imari colours of orange, green, red and yellow with broad bands of stylised flowering oriental plants and trees, together with long beaked birds perched within the foliage all issuing from vases within panelled and fenced gardens, framed above and below with stylised rui panels containing further Chinese inspired decorative elements and thick bands of gold.

An impressive confection of dazzling late regency splendour. The design inspiration of these superbly decorated vases and covers is a mix of Italian, and French in terms of the urn-like shape and zoomorphic handles, which evoke the tin glazed renaissance Italian maiolica of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that inspired some of the great French pottery manufactories of this period such as Nevers and Rouen. The colours are very typical of the palette used at Davenport, where interesting sculptural forms such as these vases were developed and imbued with the fashionable regency interpretation of Chinoiserie designs.