What size is an antique charger?

The usual span is 30 to 70cm across. Stated diameters in the listings run through 37cm, 39.5cm, 41cm, 47cm, 50cm, 55cm, 58cm and 63cm. The largest recorded are a Japanese blue and white charger at 73cm and two Imari examples at 71cm.

Were chargers used for food or for display?

The form began as an outsized serving dish, used to carry or present food at table. From the seventeenth century onward chargers were increasingly made and bought to be seen, propped on a dresser or hung on a wall. That is what the size and the painting are for.

Which types turn up most often?

Japanese Imari porcelain and tin-glazed delftware, in near-equal numbers, and together they account for most of the category. Behind them come Chinese porcelain dishes, European painted porcelain and faience, and English pottery platters and plaques. Chinese examples are a small group by count but reach the top of the range.

Are chargers sold in pairs?

One in nine listings on Sellingantiques is a pair. A few are offered as threes or trios. The archive also holds a group of three Dutch delft chargers, a trio of Kangxi dished chargers and a collection of twelve Hispano-Moresque earthenware chargers spanning the 16th to 19th centuries.

What shapes do chargers come in besides round?

Fluted, ribbed, scalloped, lobed and barbed rims all appear, as do hexagonal, octagonal and fan-shaped bodies. One Dutch delft barber's bowl is recorded, with the neck cut-out in its rim.

How old are the oldest examples listed?

The dated field starts at 1700, but that is a limit of the field rather than the stock. Several pieces are filed as "Before 1700" or "16th Century". Those include Ming Kraak of the Wanli period, a 17th-century Genroku Arita, an eleventh-century Nishapur buffware and a fourteenth to fifteenth-century Sukhothai stoneware fish dish.

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Antique Chargers

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A charger is an outsized shallow dish, usually 30 to 70cm across, made to carry food to table and, from the seventeenth century on, bought mainly to be propped on a dresser or hung on a wall.