Billingsley Roses Vase

This is a really nice and apparently rare vase made by Derby in the late 18th century. I did quite a bit of searching and asked some friends to do the same but none of us came up with this exact vase style. We did find the same main body shape but with dragon handles that was slightly later than this vase here. So definitely not a common piece and it is truly stunning! The vase has a nice shape to it but the two snake handles are superb! I think Spengler was the one who introduced these types of handles. The top and bottom have a gold and yellow ground striped design to them with the round bottom sitting on a square base. The base and the handles have a bronze sort of color that is different from others I ahve come across. It works well on this piece! The top part of the main body has a gold leaf design on white ground with the center section having a nice gold trim on cobalt blue ground. The main body has probably the best roses I ahve come across on porcelain. Really well painted and lots of them. There are full flowers and flower buds and their leaves. I can't definitively say it was painted by the famous Billingsley but the time frame of the vase fits to the end of his tenure at Derby and the quality sure fits. An expert will ahve to make that decision. But the entire vase is something quite special! The vase is in great condition. Amazingly the gilding is not worn! There are some chips to the corners of the base, some of which have previously been restored. They are not distracting as they are. There is a small crack at the top of the base where it meets the main body as shown and it would likely have had a lid which is long gone. The piece displays perfectly and looks amazing! The underside is not marked but is earlier than the marked dragon handle vase I found which was very early 19th century jsut by looking at the udnerside. I'd say this piece here is around 1790. The vase is about 12.75 inches tall, 8 inches wide and 6.75 inches deep. Feel free to email me if you need more pictures or have any other questions about the piece!