Royal Doulton Covered Urn Sesto Calende Lago Maggiore Named View c.1902

This exceptional Royal Doulton covered urn was produced at the Burslem factory during the early twentieth century, a period when Doulton's finest decorative wares competed directly with the great Continental porcelain houses. The piece carries the Royal Doulton England backstamp in green, dating production to the post-1902 era following the granting of the royal warrant, with the specific mark consistent with manufacture between approximately 1902 and 1930.

Standing 12.5 inches tall with its original cover intact, the urn is decorated in the Vienna taste with a cobalt blue and turquoise ground enriched by heavy raised gilding throughout. Twin gilt scroll handles flank the body, and a jewelled cartouche in turquoise and gold anchors the lower register. (5" wide).The principal panel carries a finely executed hand-painted landscape depicting Sesto Calende, a historic town on the southern shore of Lago Maggiore in northern Italy — the scene titled in gilt script on the base, confirming this as a named-view exhibition piece rather than a generic decorative landscape. Mountains, water, trees, and a small boat compose a scene characteristic of the Italian Lakes subjects favoured by Doulton's most accomplished ceramic painters of the period.

Named-view Royal Doulton scenic vases represent among the most collectible of all Doulton decorative wares. The titled landscape, the intact cover — frequently lost or damaged on pieces of this type — and the exceptional state of preservation place this urn well above the typical example encountered on the market today. Pieces of comparable quality and subject matter have achieved strong results at specialist auction on both sides of the Atlantic.

Condition is mint throughout, with no chips, cracks or crazing.