RARE Collectible set of 2 porcelain ART DECO porcelain dessert plates from BELL CHINA England.
Bell China is a pottery mark of a Staffordshire pottery called Shore & Coggins of Longton. They traded from 1911 to 1966. Their other pottery marks included Queen Anne and Princess Anne China. As the dates show, there is a rarity and novelty value to Shore & Coggins wares. They didn’t produce for that long and represent a kind of ‘glory days’ in UK Staffordshire potting where the market was so strong smaller family run firms could carve out a niche for themselves and hold off the giants.
Art Deco is a style of visual arts, architecture and design that first appeared in France just before World War I. It influenced the design of buildings, furniture, jewellery, fashion, cars, cinemas, trains, ocean liners, and everyday objects such as radios and vacuum cleaners. It took its name, short for Arts Décoratifs, from the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes held in Paris in 1925. Art Deco combined modern styles with fine craftsmanship and rich materials. During its heyday, it represented luxury, glamour, exuberance, and faith in social and technological progress. From its outset, Art Deco was influenced by the bold geometric forms of Cubism and the Vienna Secession; the bright colours of Fauvism and of the Ballets Russes; the updated craftsmanship of the furniture of the eras of Louis Philippe I and Louis XVI; and the exoticized styles of China and Japan, India, Persia, ancient Egypt and Maya art. It featured rare and expensive materials, such as ebony and ivory, and exquisite craftsmanship. The Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and other skyscrapers of New York City built during the 1920s and 1930s are monuments to the style. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, Art Deco became more subdued. New materials arrived, including chrome plating, stainless steel and plastic. A sleeker form of the style, called Streamline Moderne, appeared in the 1930s, featuring curving forms and smooth, polished surfaces. Art Deco is one of the first truly international styles, but its dominance ended with the beginning of World War II and the rise of the strictly functional and unadorned styles of modern architecture and the International Style of architecture that followed.
- Era: 1920s Art Deco period
- Diameter – 14,5 cm
- Made in England
- Manufacturer – BELL CHINA England
- Material – porcelain
- Condition – good / signs of age and use appear / crazing on the glaze / scratches on the surface and on the golden trim.
