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THBEarly Porcelain Cane
About Seller
125 West Market Street
Johnson City, TN 37604
United States
Family-owned and family-run Johnson City Tennessee auction business for 25 years. Selling antiques and collectables for 38 years. Kimball M. Sterling, Inc. was founded and is owned by Kimball and Victoria Sterling, time and again, they have laid solid claim to world-wide attention and renown with an...Read more
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About Auction
LiveJan 3, 2026
Masterpiece Cane auction is all from a Europeon collection. We offer items from this private collection about once a year, Kimball Sterling kimballsterling@earthlink.net
View Full Catalog (89)
- Lot Description
Ca. 1850
Large porcelain knob designed in the classic round and flattened pommel style, featuring an integrated long, gracefully waisted stem that ends in a base defined by two raised rings forming a proper collar. Its entire surface is embellished with repeating twirls that extend over the top to crown a central plain shield decorated with a floral arrangement. Precisely modeled, the twirls are hollowed along their entire length for a better grip and are delicately highlighted with golden and navy-blue linear trimmings to create a beautiful visual alternance.
Leaning towards the 18th-century Baroque taste, the design is interpreted with the light, refreshing note of the day. It comes with a high-quality, full-bark malacca shaft with a pronounced ridge underscored by a rich, uniform, warm tan color. The shaft with pierced eyelets and a braided textile loop is fitted with a long brass ferrule.
This hard-paste porcelain cane exudes the commanding presence and brilliance characteristic of vitrified noble material, and, breathtakingly courtly, it showcases the essence of European aristocratic taste.
It most likely originates from Germany.
H. 5 ½” x 4”, O.L. 36 ¼”
$600-$900
In the 18th century, porcelain was the ultimate status symbol for Europe’s royals. So prized was this hard but delicate material that it was known as “white gold.” And as Janet Gleeson’s 1998 history, “The Arcanum: The Extraordinary True Story,” makes clear, princes and dukes were not above imprisoning craftsmen to discover the secret and keep it for themselves.
The etching on the side was taken from an interesting article by F. Luthner titled "In der Porzellanfabrik," published by Verlag Ernst Keil’s Nachfolger G. m. b. H. in Leipzig 1888, showing some of the many delicate and time-consuming stages of porcelain manufacturing.
Today, marine canes stand as evocative reminders of American maritime heritage and the creativity that flourished even in the solitude of the open ocean.
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