Pair of Worcester porcelain tea bowls depicting Persian Shahs

The beautiful tea bowls in this pair were produced c. 1820 by Royal Worcester under the Flight, Barr & Barr partnership. The ormolu (gilt bronze) mounts are a later addition—they serve to transform the function of the bowls into potpourri vases, as evidenced by the pierced ormolu lid.

Each porcelain bowl stands on a waisted socle and a small circular foot, while the wide rim of each vase is edged with machine-worked ormolu. The white-ground porcelain body of each vase is parcel gilt: gold stars and dots are interspersed among the four gilt cartouches that decorate the body. Each gilt cartouche contains a painted scene: two contain floral bouquets, while the two others contain portraits of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar—the second Shah of Qajar Iran—and his son, the Crown Prince Abbas Mirza.

Each vase is topped by an ormolu lid, the lid pierced with fleur-de-lis motifs and surmounted by a large ormolu globular finial. A three-leg, tri-form ormolu base supports each vase, the legs formed as curvilinear acanthus leaves.