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Antique DEP Porcelain Lady-With-Parasol Spill Vase & Taper Holder — c.1900 German

$55.00 Only one available

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Belle Époque (1871–1914) Gilt, Porcelain / Ceramic Very Good
HDRV-VR-0015
She stands at a little brick well in her tall bonnet and gilded skirt, a closed lavender parasol on her arm, waiting on a summer that came and went more than a century ago. This is a figural spill vase in glazed porcelain, and it works three ways at once: a central well seats a taper candle, a scalloped cup sits at one side, and an open basin waits at the other. Hand-tinted in pale celadon-ivory with blonde hair and a skirt of soft gold, set on a scrolled Rococo-revival base. The underside carries an impressed "DEP" with mold numbers — a registered-design mark that points to Continental Europe, most likely Germany, right around 1900. Details
  • Glazed figural porcelain, hand-tinted; gilded skirt, lavender parasol
  • Three openings — center taper well, side cup, open basin
  • Impressed "DEP" (déposé/deponiert — a registered-design notation, not a maker's name) with mold numbers
  • Circa 1900 — late Victorian / Edwardian / Belle Époque; likely German or Continental European
  • Measures 5.5" tall, 4.5" wide, 3" deep — a shelf, vanity, or mantel piece
Condition: Structurally excellent for its age — no chips, cracks, or repairs. The gilding has softly worn to a warm coffee tone and a few faint specks are original to the firing, exactly the patina you hope to find on porcelain this old. She presents beautifully and is ready to display.
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Antique DEP Porcelain Lady-With-Parasol Spill Vase & Taper Holder — c.1900 German

Circa 1900 — Belle Époque

Rococo-Revival Figural Spill Vase

In the years before matches lived in every kitchen drawer, fire had to be carried. A spill vase held "spills" — twists of paper or thin wood tapers used to catch a flame at the hearth and walk it to a candle, a lamp, or a pipe. This figural example, a young woman in eighteenth-century dress posed at a brick well, was made around 1900, most likely in Germany. Its underside carries an impressed "DEP" — déposé, a registered-design notation of the era rather than a maker's name.

It comes from the estate of a ninety-one-year-old collector in Durham, North Carolina, who arrived in this country as a girl and spent her youth around Philadelphia before settling in the South. A European piece of this age sits naturally in a life that began with an ocean crossing. Its own travels we can't trace — but it has clearly been kept, and kept well, for a very long time.

Materials Glazed porcelain, molded and hand-tinted, with fired gilt decoration on the skirt; multi-well figural form.
Care Dust with a soft, dry cloth. Avoid soaking, harsh cleaners, and abrasives, which can lift the aged gilding — a gentle hand keeps that mellowed gold intact.
From the Research Archives
vintagerose.us Catalog No. HDRV-VR-0015 • July 2026

Specifications

Dimensions
8 × 6 × 6 in
Weight
2 lbs
SKU
HDRV-VR-0015
Before matches were a thing you kept in a drawer, fire was something you carried. A "spill" was a twist of paper or a slim sliver of wood — you touched it to the hearth, then walked the flame across the room to a candle, a lamp, the bowl of a pipe. A spill vase like this one lived on the mantel with its little bundle at the ready, half tool and half ornament. The same three openings that once held fire-starters will hold a few fresh stems or a single taper just as well. Fire then, flowers now. Our lady leans against a molded brick well in eighteenth-century dress — a tall bonnet, a fitted blue-grey bodice, and a bustled skirt washed in gold that time has mellowed to something warmer and quieter than it started. The parasol on her arm stays closed, tinted a pale lavender. Everything sits on a scrolled base in the Rococo-revival taste that Europe couldn't get enough of at the turn of the last century. Turn her over and you'll find an impressed "DEP" alongside a few mold numbers. That's déposé — or deponiert — a registered-design notation rather than a signature, the sort of mark that sends you toward Continental Europe and, most likely, a German workshop around 1900. No maker put a name to her, and we won't put words in their mouth. She comes to us from the estate of a collector in Durham, North Carolina — a woman of ninety-one who arrived in this country as a girl and spent her youth around Philadelphia before the South claimed her. A European piece of this vintage sits right at home in a collection built by someone who crossed an ocean young. What she saw in it, we can only guess. It's easy to see the appeal. Details
  • Glazed figural porcelain, hand-tinted — celadon-ivory ground, blonde hair, gilded skirt, lavender parasol
  • Multi-purpose spill vase: central taper well, scalloped side cup, open basin
  • Rococo-revival scrolled base; young woman posed at a molded brick well
  • Impressed "DEP" (a registered-design mark, not a maker's name) with mold numbers on the underside
  • Circa 1900 — late Victorian / Edwardian / Belle Époque; likely German or Continental European
  • Measures 5.5" tall, 4.5" wide, 3" deep
Condition: Structurally excellent for her age — no chips, cracks, or repairs. The gilding on the skirt has softly worn and mellowed to a warm coffee tone, the honest patina you'd hope to see on porcelain of this period, and a few faint dark specks in the glaze are original to the firing. She presents beautifully and is ready to display.

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