A Cabinet of Vintage Glassware

The vintage glasses and cut crystal in our recent post on setting a bar inspired these shots of some more of our antique and vintage inventory.

 

Unique vintage glassware is among the fastest moving categories in our online shop, the more unusual the better.

 

Like these unusually shaped vintage dessert glasses surrounding the cut glass compote that would be a stylish way to serve an elegant sorbet or a simple ice cream.

 

Hand blown Murano glass goblets and an antique cut crystal decanter fill the top shelf with fun retro vintage glassware and a cut crystal bowl below.

Just a sample of the ever-changing inventory at Knickerbocker Antiques and Vintage.

Photos by KS&D.

Eclectic Holiday China

With Thanksgiving a week away it’s time once again to start thinking about setting the perfect holiday table.


Incorporating a unique piece or two of antique and vintage china with your existing pieces is a great way to add interest to your table setting. A special piece of porcelain such as a compote dish or gravy boat also makes a wonderful hostess gift that can be brought out and enjoyed year after year.


An elegant platter or unique serving tray always makes a beautiful and useful addition to any china collection, while more specialized pieces such as a sugar and creamer or a set of tiny butter pats are a charming way to add that little extra touch.


For a hint of whimsy why not add something purely decorative? Our pyramid of majolica fruits and vegetables or the colorful Italian ceramic pheasant figure are both perfect accompaniments for any harvest feast.

Photos and styling by KS&D.

Thanksgiving China

With food, family, and fabulous china, what’s not to love about Thanksgiving! This year why not create the perfect table setting for your loved ones with unique antique and vintage china tableware.


Beneath our pretty pale pumpkin sits a of stack of old china bowls the perfect shade for serving butternut squash soup along with a stack of creamware dinner plates in an intricate pattern appropriately titled American Traditional. A good heavy turkey platter such as this antique English ironstone piece is one of the most important pieces on any Thanksgiving table second only to the gravy boat of course such as this charming floral piece by Staffordshire.


The white porcelain gravy boat is ideal for a more formal table setting, especially when paired with the luxurious sterling silver ladle complete with mother of pearl handle. The stack of vintage floral ironstone china dinner plates coordinate nicely with the antique transferware casserole dish brimming with autumn gourds. Imagine serving fresh apple cider to your guests with this unusual porcelain pitcher and cup set lavishly hand painted with acorns and oak leaves displayed here before a Currier and Ives print depicting a wild turkey hunt on a long ago Thanksgiving Day.

Photos and styling by Knickerbocker

Eclectic Dessert Buffet

What better way to follow up our recent “dinner for two” post than with a generous helping of dessert? We’ve scoured the butler’s pantry for our most romantic porcelain and fine china serving pieces to create a dessert buffet as rich as any frosted confection.


Anchoring the table’s right end is a charming vintage German apothecary jar overflowing with fresh hydrangea in every imaginable shade of pink and purple. Flanking the bouquet are some beautiful Limoges porcelain compote dishes with intricate gilded floral detailing including a large cake stand layered with a scallop shell compote to create a multilevel serving piece perfect for displaying cookies and other treats. Tucked between all the Limoges sits a elegant antique Austrian porcelain serving basket and a charming antique English china sugar and creamer set.


Front and center sits an intricately painted porcelain tray of unusual shape piled high with vintage German porcelain cups and saucers adorned with colorful clusters of lush ripe fruits. Illuminating the scene from behind is a pair of elaborate porcelain candelabra ornamented with cherubic figures along their bases.


Behind the exquisite Haviland Limoges biscuit jar and vintage pewter coffee pot rests a large English ironstone platter just waiting to be put into service. The set of antique Royal Worcester bowls in the foreground are of ivory china with finely detailed gilded rims. Next to these a stack of small plates includes a set of old English Staffordshire embellished with blue ivy as well as a set of antique platinum banded Lenox. The scene is finished off with a smaller bouquet of hydrangea arranged in a classical vintage Lenox vase.

Photos and styling by KS&D.

Dinner for Two

A beautifully set table can turn the simplest meal into a memorable event. Luckily the "butler’s pantry" here at Knickerbocker Antiques and Vintage is stocked with all the little necessities for a one-of-a-kind table.


We started by taking the quilt off the bed and putting it into service as a unique tablecloth set off by a simple blown glass urn filled to the brim with lilies and irises. This simple yet elegant base makes a perfect backdrop for mixed and matched pieces selected from our antique and vintage porcelain, fine china, crystal and glassware collections.


Our place settings feature colorful French Limoges dishes sitting atop antique Austrian porcelain soup bowls with delicately gilded detailing. The dinner plates are unadorned white porcelain by Villeroy & Boch featuring fanciful molded borders perfect for mixing and matching. The white and gold bread and butter plates of English Wedgwood china perfectly match the French Limoges butter pats, a charming dining accessory rarely seen today.


The exquisite hand blown Venetian Murano glass goblets from Asprey are intended for red wine but their massive size makes them perfect water as well. They are shown here matched with antique wine glasses featuring unusually detailed stems and vintage cut crystal glasses by Tiffin.


The table for two sits framed by columns displaying potted plants, one in a large art pottery shell supported by monkeys and the other in an Italian majolica pot. The framed bird print and gilded wall swags pick up on the china’s gilded details creating a cozy vignette for a memorable meal.

Photos and styling by KS&D.

Tabletop Crystal & Glassware

Here is another look into our long breakfront featured in a previous post, this time showing a section devoted to our crystal and glassware collection.


The top shelf is centered on a large elaborately cut compote with cover that shares center stage with two beautiful Waterford crystal wine decanters in the Lismore and Glandore patterns. Surrounding these are a set of exquisite goblets handcrafted in Murano, Italy exclusively for Asprey, the London based luxury purveyor to the British royals.


The lower shelf centers around an elegant Waterford crystal ships decanter, so named for the unique bottom heavy shape designed to keep the piece from tipping in rough seas. Assembled around the decanter are a set of antique cut crystal glasses by Tiffin, a set of sleek Baccarat beer glasses, and yet more of the generously sized Asprey goblets.

Antique & Vintage Porcelain & Fine China

Here's a look into part of a large arched china breakfront lining the hall opposite the arrangement seen in a previous post. The gentle sloping arch of the glass fronted door makes a lovely frame for a selection of porcelain pieces featured in our online shop. The lower shelf is almost entirely devoted to an elegant Bavarian porcelain dessert service adorned with lush depicts of ripe fruits.

The upper shelf continues the theme with a collection of vintage German porcelain plates featuring baskets overflowing with fruit along the finely detailed borders. The plates make a lovely backdrop for an intricately hand-painted porcelain pitcher and cup set covered in realistically rendered clusters of acorn and oak leaves.


Photos and styling by KS&D.