ROYAL WORCESTER COVERED VASE, 1915 – SWANS IN FLIGHT
This Royal Worcester vase made a hammer price of €4,600 over an estimate of €250-€350 at Sheppards ongoing sale of contents from Kilroan House, Glanmire, Cork and other clients. It is richly decorated with raised gilt rococo scrolls and hand-painted swans in flight against a sky-blue and olive-green ground. The pierced neck and handles are decorated with gilt and blush highlights and the domed cover is surmounted by a gilt finial. The underside is printed with the Worcester crown mark, registration number 168915.
Charles Henry Clifford Baldwyn, one of the most gifted artists at Royal Worcester in the late 19th and early 20th century, specialised in bird painting. His paintings of swans in flight on vases became signature pieces. The designs were so distinctive and synonymous with his name that no other decorator was allowed to paint them during his employment at the Royal Worcester factory. Baldwyn was also allowed to sign his designs at a time when few factory artists were permitted to do so. Royal Worcester went to the trouble of registering this and other designs by Baldwyn to discourage copying by other rival factories because the style was so desirable and important for their sales. Later versions of the Baldwyn swans registered pattern could be printed in outline and then coloured in by other factory painters.