Bee Hive Beehive

This wonderful two section porcelain pastille burner was made in England during the early 19th century, circa 1820 to 1830. The early porcelain pastille burners are not to be confused with the later single Staffordshire pottery pieces that were produced during the later 19th century. It was in the late 1700s that the idea of the picturesque took hold of people’s imagination. Huge country mansions were being landscaped by the likes of Capability Brown, with small individual follies, dovecots and dairy cottages often included in this designed, imagined landscape. Country cottages called Cottage Orné. In fact Kings and Queens had these cute, decorative little cottages built in their grounds too, not for poor country folk to live in, but for their own personal use. With this in mind, you can then see how Porcelain manufacturers of the day grasped this fashion for the picturesque and reflected it in their functional pastille burners which were after all needed for a far from picturesque reason – to dispel nasty smells! You would place your smouldering pastille tablet in the base, place the top back on and wonderful perfume would filter out of the windows and doors to waft around your home. Remember back in the 1800s there could be many smells – hygiene was not what it is today! Kitchens and pantry did not have refrigeration, and open the windows if you were in the city and all of those nasty street smells would come in. Our very fine pastille burner is modelled as a country cottage and has been extensively decorated by hand. We see encrusted flowers to the thatched roof, shredded porcelain detailing to the roof and a chimney. The house features windows doors, hand painted fences, a bay window. Our favourite features include the lady at the window holding the vines, the garden birds in the blossom tree and of course the bee skep to the rear of the cottage. The base is modelled as a grass mound. This is a top-quality piece of English porcelain that displays excellently! Please browse our other early porcelain cottage pastille burners from the same previous collector. Measuring: Base width 4 5/8 inch (11.5 cm). Total height 6 inch (15 cm). Condition: Minor chip to chimney, the occasional area of loss to the shredded porcelain detailing. The interior of the cottage features some staining to the body and a few minor old hairlines from the heated pastilles. The interior of the base features minor pitting to the body from heat over the years. A gorgeous early example in the very sought after Bee Skep design.