Matchpot (one of a pair)

This pair of vases, with their delicate, applied-molded floral decoration, realistic hand-painting, and gilt highlights, was created by the Spode Pottery and Porcelain Factory around the first quarter of the 19th century. The factory was founded by Josiah Spode, who had entered the potter’s trade under Thomas Whieldon by 1749. Following a series of partnerships, Spode founded his own pottery in 1776. His son, called Josiah Spode II by historians, opened a London retail shop selling earthenware, porcelain, and glass in 1778, thus making the wares available to a broader populace. Spode II returned to Stoke-on-Trent to manage the pottery upon his father’s death in 1797. The Spode firm is best known for having perfected the formula for bone porcelain.

Illustrated as shape number 109 in Spode’s 1820 Shape Book, objects of this type were called “Pedestal Matchpots” in the period. The shape appeared before the invention of strike-to-light matches in 1827. Matchpots were designed to hold wooden splints, sometimes also called spills, which were used to light fires. Other manufactories called the form a spill vase, a term Spode later adopted, presumably to avoid confusion once sulphur matches became widely available. Likely created as part of a garniture, the pair of matchpots would have created a symmetrical display atop a mantel.

Though most examples of Spode porcelain are marked with a pattern number, these matchpots are not. Therefore, the name of this unusual, applied molded floral pattern remains unidentified.