Object of the Day: An Antique Bisque Portrait Vase

The term “bisque” is often used in the U.S. to refer to the material properly called “biscuit.” Biscuit porcelain is unglazed and highly porous, however it can be painted and embellished as is the case of this attractive portrait vase.


Dating to the mid-Nineteenth-Century, this vase is English in origin. Painted in a rusty red and embellished with gold scroll-work, the central decoration of the vase is a hand-painted portrait of a young woman in profile. Portrait vases were quite popular during the Victorian era. Often, a member of the family was represented on a specially commissioned vase. Others were sold commercially with idealized images of beauty. Our Victorian counterparts liked things with faces.

Because of biscuit’s natural matte finish and its ability to take color neatly, it was often employed to make the heads and limbs of dolls. The result was a very realistic looking figure with an eerily lifelike skin-tone. Biscuit figures (often called parian ware) are very fragile. Because of this they’re quite difficult to find. If you have a biscuit object in your possession, make sure to handle it with care.