Conta & Boehme Late 19th Century Spill Vase & Match Holder

Offered for sale is a lovely late 19th century "Fairing" spill vase, match holder and striker produced by Conte & Boehme. It is modelled as a young girl sitting on a fence. She is wearing a floral frock with a pink sash, her bonnet has a matching ribbon and pink shoes. The spill vase and match holder are fashioned as hollowed out logs. There is a number and the Conta & Boehme Shield mark incised on the base. Fairing refers to a small porcelain ornament depicting a variety of scenes, humorous, political or domestic. The ornament almost always incorporates a base and many fairings have a caption describing the scene or making some point inscribed on that base. China fairings are so named because they were given away as prizes at fairs in the Victorian era, although some were manufactured simply for sale. They first started appearing in the middle of the nineteenth century and remained popular until the start of the First World War.