Object Description
19th Century Royal Vienna Porcelain Cabinet Vase Depicting Ruth
By Royal Vienna Porcelain Manufactory (Austrian, founded 1718)
Austrian, Late 19th Century
Height 32cm, width10cm, depth 10cm
This porcelain vase has a slender baluster form, with a wide circular foot, rounded body, and tall trumpet-shaped neck. The surface is decorated in a soft turquoise ground, enhanced with gilded floral scrolls, beaded borders, and a classical Greek key pattern around the lower section.
The shoulder carries two small oval panels painted in gold with chinoiserie-style scenes, including a heron standing among reeds beneath a flowering tree, with further gilt floral and foliate ornament continuing across the neck and base.
A large oval panel on an ivory ground dominates the centre of the vase, set within an elaborate gilt frame of scrolling foliage, beading, and floral garlands. The panel depicts the biblical figure of Ruth as a young woman with curled hair, wearing a grey-green robe and white headscarf, holding a sheaf of wheat, painted with delicate attention to expression, clothing, and modelling typical of fine 19th-century European porcelain.
The underside bears the painted title “Ruth” in script, the Royal Vienna shield (beehive) mark in underglaze blue, a gilt inventory or pattern number, and a small gilt rose mark, with the fine decoration and gilding reflecting the high level of craftsmanship associated with the finest Austrian porcelain of the period.