Is majolica the same thing as maiolica?

They overlap in these listings. Maiolica is the Italian tin-glazed painted tradition; majolica is the brightly coloured glazed earthenware revived by British and Continental potteries in the 19th century. Both spellings are in active use. Majolica is the default, and maiolica appears in five titles, generally where the vase is sold as Italian tin-glazed ware.

Where do most of these vases come from?

Italy leads. The word italian appears in 11 of 35 titles, more than any other origin, and it often sits next to the word large in the same listing. Victorian and English majolica accounts for around a fifth. Central European potteries in Austria, Bohemia, Czechoslovakia and Germany cover six listings, and France a small handful of faience pairs.

How often do pairs come up?

A quarter of the titles say pair, which is high for a form usually met singly. They include pairs of large vases, snake bottle vases and French faience Art Nouveau vases. Paired lots appear repeatedly in the upper half of the sampled range.

What does a 19th Century date label actually mean?

It is a broad shelf label rather than a date. Thirteen listings carry it, more than any other period entry, and Victorian is used the same way in three more. Only 11 listings give a clean year, and those run from 1870 to 1930. Titles sometimes narrow things further than the field does, with c.1860-1880, c.1884 and c.1890 all appearing.

Can a vase be dated earlier than the 19th century?

Five listings carry the 17th or 18th century in the dated field, mostly Italian and Savona pieces described by century alone rather than by year. Separately, two titles sell themselves as 17th-Century Revival or Renaissance Revival. Early dates and early styles are two different things in this archive.

Which shapes turn up besides the standard vase?

Forms run from bottle and cylindrical vases to lidded vases and a jardiniere sold as a vase, the two functions overlapping. The one-offs are worth knowing: an early 19th-century pharmacy or apothecary jar, a nautilus shell centrepiece, a tulip vase and a Garofano vase, each appearing once and nowhere else.