19th C. Staffordshire Spill Vase with Doves and Snakes sanborn and carter with a ball so large

with a ball so large it seems poised to bust out of its cage entirely

2" diameter

It actually makes me envision a horse named Wonder

in which someone saw a figure and decided to help it along a bit in fully emerging

)  As with many of his works in this series

19th C. Staffordshire Spill Vase with Doves and Snakes sanborn and carter with a ball so largeSometimes one wants something that feels like a bit of Rococo fun, plus I love a snake, this one about to steal an egg from the nest of this pair of doves in what one could read as a clash between good and evil. 19th c. Staffordshire, with hand painted details in gold and black and green. The form is that of a spill vase, typically kept on the mantle and used for containing splints, spills, and tapers for transferring fire, for example to light a