Vintage Schafer & Vater Blue Jasperware Cherub Heart Tray and Vase Set – White Relief Putti on Dolphin, German Stoneware, 1920s–1960s

Two pieces in matte cobalt blue with white relief — a heart-shaped tray and a small square vase — carrying the same visual language: cherubs, scrollwork, and the unmistakable blue-and-white palette of the jasperware tradition.

The heart tray is the centrepiece. A winged cherub plays a stringed instrument astride a dolphin — a scene borrowed directly from classical mythology — framed by dense baroque scrollwork, grape clusters, and vine leaves that curl up to the ornate crest. The relief is sharp: individual feathers on the wings, scales on the dolphin, grape berries you can count. The back carries a gold hanging cord threaded through a metal loop, so it sits flat on a vanity or hangs on a wall. Turn it over and you find the grey, unglazed base with impressed mould number "3110" — the chalky, uncoloured body beneath the blue dip, characteristic of Continental European jasperware production.

The square vase matches in colour and spirit. Two children embrace in a "first kiss" on the front panel, surrounded by roses and hydrangea in high relief; the sides carry vertical ribbing, and the base flares outward on decorative scroll feet. The opening is wide enough for a small posy of dried flowers, or it works as a pencil holder on a desk — functional and decorative at once.

The jasperware technique — coloured clay body with white relief decoration applied by sprig mould — was pioneered by Wedgwood in the 18th century and widely adopted across Continental Europe. This set, with its grey stoneware body dipped in blue, impressed mould numbers, and lavish baroque-revival motifs, is characteristic of Schafer & Vater of Rudolstadt, Thuringia — one of the best-known German makers of jasperware-style ceramics, active from 1890 to 1962. Where Wedgwood kept its neoclassical ornament spare and restrained, Schafer & Vater embraced the full weight of the baroque: dense scrollwork, overflowing grape vines, dramatic figural scenes. The craftsmanship here is a cut above the average — faces have expression, feathers have texture, and the white stands in crisp contrast against the deep blue ground.