Basalt vase and lid

Summary

Urn shaped lidded vase, stoneware, black basalt, with relief decoration of dancing Cupids. Vase with flat shoulder, narrow neck and spreading foot on small square plinth. Side panels of plinth decorated with inset egg-and-dart borders. Foot has scalloped outer edge, moulded acanthus detail, and flared scalloped rim at junction with body. Main body decorated with six dancing Cupids against a dimpled ground, in three different poses, each repeated, with long leafy festoon draped round their shoulders and pairs of doves at their feet. Four Cupids carry trumpets. Lower body below decorated with radiating palm leaves, shoulder above with inset guilloche border, single quatrefoils inside each guilloche loop. Two vertical handles with acanthus detail, one on each side of shoulder rising from large paterae, terminating in a scroll. Flat shoulder rising to narrow flared neck with thick curved rim, with flared tongue-and-dart pattern and band of hand-rolled beads around neck. Small shallow domed cover with engine-turned ribbing and spherical finial.