Description

Width: 31.5cm

A rare Victorian Dudson stoneware cheese dome and matching stand, beautifully decorated in the classical jasperware manner with crisp white relief moulded ornament against a warm buff stoneware ground.

The dome is richly adorned with finely detailed grapevine borders and an attractive continuous rural landscape depicting cattle, sheep, trees and pastoral scenery.

The lid is finished with an elegant basket-form knop, while the matching stand echoes the vine decoration around its broad rim, creating a wonderfully balanced and highly decorative presentation.

Produced by Dudson of Stoke-on-Trent, one of the great names of nineteenth-century British ceramics, pieces of this quality were intended for the dining table of affluent Victorian households.

Combining practical use with decorative appeal, cheese domes became an important feature of formal dining and entertaining during the period.

Examples retaining both dome and original stand are increasingly difficult to find, particularly in such outstanding condition.

The crispness of the relief decoration and the quality of the stoneware body highlight the exceptional craftsmanship for which Dudson became renowned.