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Vintage Ceramic Nativity Figurine on an Open-Book Base — Drip-Glazed Holy Family with Magi

$29.00 Only one available

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Vintage — unmarked, undated Gilt, Porcelain / Ceramic Very Good
HOXM-VR-0022
The whole scene rises from the pages of an open book. The Holy Family at the center — Mary in her white veil, hands pressed in prayer, Joseph beside her, the Christ Child swaddled in the manger out front. Behind them, the Three Wise Men in their crowns. Two small lambs kneel at the corners. And over all of it, a high-gloss drip glaze in amber, cobalt, ruby, and cream that pools and runs the old-world way, with gilding caught on the crowns and the gilded page edges. One piece of glazed ceramic, small enough for a mantel, substantial enough to hold the room.
  • Form: one-piece Nativity tableau molded atop an open book with fanned, gilt-edged pages
  • Cast: Mary, Joseph, the Christ Child in the manger, the Three Magi, two kneeling lambs
  • Glaze: high-gloss majolica-style drip glaze — amber-brown, cobalt, ruby, cream, with gilded highlights
  • Material: glazed ceramic (earthenware), hollow base, unglazed foot rim
  • Size: about 5 x 5 x 5 inches — a mantel or shelf piece
  • Purely decorative: no music box, no light
Condition: The glaze is bright and intact, the faces crisp, no chips or cracks. A little thinning to the gilt on the crowns and page edges, and light soiling to the unglazed base from years of gentle handling. A well-kept piece that displays beautifully.
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Vintage Ceramic Nativity Figurine on an Open-Book Base — Drip-Glazed Holy Family with Magi

Vintage — unmarked, undated

Old-World Nativity Figurine

This Nativity came to us from an estate in Hobbsville, North Carolina — a small place in the northeast corner of the state, the kind of community where things get kept and cared for and handed along. We don't know who first brought it home, or which December it first came out of its wrapping. What we do know is that it was kept, and kept well, and that tells its own story.

You can read the life of a piece like this in the small things. The gilt on the crowns has thinned just slightly, the way gold does when it's been touched and dusted and admired over a good many seasons. The base carries a bit of honest soiling from being set out and put away, year after year, box to mantel and back to box again. That's not wear so much as it is evidence — proof that somebody unpacked it every Advent, found it a place of honor, and wrapped it back up when the tree came down. A Nativity is one of those objects that measures out a household's years, one Christmas at a time. Now it's looking for the next mantel to sit on. We're bringing it out in July, which we admit is early, but there's a certain pleasure in finding a treasure like this while the weather's warm and tucking it away for December — so that when the season comes, the loveliest thing on the shelf is already waiting for you.

Materials Glazed ceramic (earthenware) with a high-gloss majolica-style drip glaze and gilded highlights. One-piece tableau molded on an open-book base; hollow, unglazed foot.
Care Dust with a soft, dry cloth. For deeper cleaning, use a barely damp cloth and dry at once. Keep off the gilding; avoid soaking, harsh cleaners, and sudden temperature changes.
From the Research Archives
vintagerose.us Catalog No. HOXM-VR-0022 • July 2026

Specifications

Dimensions
9 × 9 × 9 in
Weight
4 lbs
SKU
HOXM-VR-0022
Most Nativities give you a stable. This one gives you a book — an open one, pages fanned and edged in gold, with the whole Holy Family rising right up out of it. It's a lovely bit of sculptural thinking, and it makes the piece read as more than a seasonal decoration. The story and the thing that carries the story become one object. The cast is all here. Mary at the center in a white veil, hands pressed together, and Joseph close beside her. The Christ Child lies swaddled in the manger out front, with two small white lambs kneeling at the corners like they wandered in and decided to stay. Behind the family stand the Three Wise Men, crowned and robed, the folds of their garments deep enough to catch the light. Look close at the faces — they're crisp and well-defined, which isn't a given on a piece like this. Then there's the glaze, which is really the whole show. It's a high-gloss, flowing drip glaze in the old majolica manner — warm amber-brown running into cobalt blue, ruby red, and cream, the colors pooling where they gather and thinning where they run. No two spots are quite alike. Gilding picks out the crowns and the gilded edges of the book. It's unmistakably hand-glazed, the kind of finish that keeps your eye moving. There's no maker's mark anywhere on it, underside included, so we won't put a name or a date to it. What we'll say is that it has that old-world, made-by-hand character, and it earns it. At roughly five inches all around, it's small but it has heft — a mantel, a shelf, a hall table come December. And since we're calling this a Christmas in July find, here's the honest pitch: it's a fine thing to tuck away now and rediscover when the boxes come down off the shelf. A Nativity you set out year after year is one of those things that sits close to the heart of a season.
  • Form: one-piece Nativity tableau sculpted atop an open book with fanned, gilt-edged pages
  • Cast: Mary in a white veil, Joseph, the Christ Child in the manger, the Three Magi in crowns, two kneeling lambs
  • Glaze: high-gloss, flowing majolica-style drip glaze — amber-brown, cobalt, ruby, cream — with gilded highlights on the crowns and book edges
  • Material: glazed ceramic (earthenware), hollow base, unglazed buff foot rim
  • Maker: unmarked
  • Size: about 5 x 5 x 5 inches
  • Function: purely decorative — no music box, no light
Condition: The glossy glaze is bright and intact, the faces crisp, with no chips or cracks. There's minor thinning to the gilt highlights on the crowns and the book's edges, and light soiling to the unglazed base, both consistent with age and gentle handling. A well-kept piece that displays beautifully.

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