Powell, Bishop and Stonier's "Mikado" pattern was typically employed to give a fashionable Japanesque surface to rather everyday forms of table and toilet wares. Here, however, the transfer pattern combines with footed vessels of unexpected (to say the least) form to create the most delightfully curious pair of small vases. We are accustomed to finding such sophisticated objects executed in porcelain; these, however, are earthenware, finished in PB&S's "ivory glaze.

The basic shape--a spherical section with a wide flat bottom--leaves plenty of surface to be filled with random shaped reserves featuring scenes of Asian life and a few floral crests. These delightful vignettes, some traceable to Hokusai's Manga, are brightly hand enameled. The effect is that of paper scraps decoupaged onto the blank ground, reminding us that the aesthetic temperament also gave us scrapbooks and crazy quilts.

Still more to come. The openings are fitted with cylinder collars accented with pairs of curls that might have been modelled from a pug's tail. Turning the vases over, we see three bun feet that lift the base from the table in the most charming way. There are even a few strokes of gold to highlight this odd, but adorable creature.

The neat geometry and somewhat eccentric form of these little vases suggests the influence of Christopher Dresser. (Yes, we know that today's marketplace attributions to Dr. Dresser are wildly exaggerated. We only claim "influence".) Dresser pulled elements from his astoundingly diverse mental warehouse of international forms--ancient and current--often combining them in unconventional ways in his metalwork and ceramic designs.

Should we puzzle over the use of these vessels we need only imagine a superb specimen of chrysanthemum leaning assymmetrically out of one of the narrow collars. Would an aspiring aesthete be challenged to "live up to" his posey pot?