Pair of Dresden Lidded Urns with Helmet-Clad Figural Handles

A pair of highly decorative 19th-century lidded porcelain urns featuring a canary yellow ground and hand-painted Watteau-style vignettes. The vessels are constructed from fine polychrome porcelain with elaborate figural handles modeled as bearded male busts wearing Romanesque or Greco-Roman helmets accented with colorful plumes and gilding. The center of each urn displays a large oval reserve containing a romanticized pastoral scene of figures in an outdoor setting, surrounded by intricate gilded scrolling and lace-work borders. Small floral sprigs are scattered across the neck and base. The lids are domed, mirroring the yellow ground and floral motifs, topped with a decorative finial. Noted visible condition issues include some losses to the applied porcelain elements, particularly on the plumes of the helmeted handles, and minor chips to the painted glaze and gilded edges. The 'Dresden' mark and crown stamp visible in the detail photos indicate production during the late 19th century in Germany, likely by a firm such as Helena Wolfsohn or Carl Thieme, who frequently utilized the yellow-ground 'Helena Wolfsohn' style imitating earlier Meissen designs. The quality indicates high-level decorative craftsmanship with extensive hand-applied detail.