Pattern 711 Spode bone china Violet Pot Pourri Basket decorated with a solid gilt ground & floral sprays hand-painted in colourful enamels. This lavish pattern was introduced by Josiah Spode II c1804.
I love all the gold & the flowers, what a beautiful & luxurious piece of porcelain. Sadly one of its handles has been broken at some point in its 200+ years of life but this is very common for these little baskets & is no reason to despise it or love it any less.
Andrew Baseman has a blog, Past Imperfect:The Art of Inventive Repair which is an absolute delight to read. He has collected many ceramics which have been broken & repaired in very inventive ways in the past when people had the attitude 'make do & mend' rather than throwing away. You can find his blog here:
I have another one of these in Spode's pattern 1166 (illustrated) which is decorated with a cobalt ground & gilt scales together with lots of florals.
There is a slight fault on the base rim where the porcelain probably split in the bottle oven firing.
What a lovely contrast with the white porcelain. You can see the little gilt ledges which the lid sits on.
The usual one or two specks inside.
This Spode basket is marked to its base with 'SPODE' & its pattern number '711' in red enamel & so it may have been made perhaps 10-15 years later than the date of pattern introduction & this would tie in with the period when Josiah Spode II was marking his wares more prolifically.