This rather weird and wondrous vase below resides in the Mythical Animals folder in my archive. The beasties to either side are shpinxes--Egyptian sphinxes to be exact, with definite lions haunches. I have never seen this vase in the flesh, but I do think it fantastic.
The pair below, formerly in the stock of Aurea Carter, seem to have come from the same molds.
I snapped the picture below in the Reserve Collection at The Potteries Museum. As you see, here we again have the same vase but the top was adapted to shorten it.
I know of no other enamel-painted shpinxes. I might have thought the beastie below was a sphinx, but the scales seem to suggest she is more of a mermaid of sorts. She is decorated in underglaze colors.
The figure below in the VIctoria and Albert Museum has a very similar face to the figure above. Perhaps the same hand fashioned them. This time, the figure has a definite fish tail, so it is indeed a mermaid. And this time it is enamel painted.
These mythical marvels are not the only myths of the ceramics world. Mythical is the word that comes to mind when I see some of the descriptions of pottery being offered for sale on Internet auctions. I look at them with as much disbelief as I would look at a mermaid or sphinx masquerading as a living creature. As for the prices, sometimes they leave me speechless.
This figure sold with absolutely no mention of the fact that the head belongs to an entirely different figure! This head is off a little show woman, the sort that normally holds a tamborine. The unnatural angle, the color mismatch, and the deformed neck did not tip off the buyer!
This very-definitely twentieth century bull baiting was described as early nineteenth century. To top it, the man's arms were glued back on as were some of the feet. I didn't expect it to get any bids. What a fool I am! It sold for over GBP721 or $1184. Words simply fail me.
How about these insignificant items described as "Continental pearlware." What precisely might that be?
Described as a "rare Staffordshire tithe pig circa 1800/1820". Surely by now the whole world knows that this very, very common Kent offering is more like 1920.
Described as Staffordshire but almost definitely made in Asia. Ah well, at least this time the seller did not claim great antiquity.
Mythical animals. Who needs them? Truth is stranger than fiction. You have only to look on the Internet to see the unbelievable.
