Hand Painted Cobalt Blue Sunflower Vase with Square Body
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A freehand sunflower vase with no name on it
The hand painted cobalt blue sunflower vase with a square body is a glazed ceramic vase about 8 inches tall: four flat sides, a short round neck that flares to a rolled lip, and a small round foot. The whole outside, and the inside of the neck, is brushed in cobalt blue with lighter periwinkle strokes, and on every side yellow sunflowers with stippled brown centers and green leaves are painted over large, faint petal shapes worked into the blue. The base is glazed white with no stamp, signature, number or label. Searches of eBay and Etsy on October 29, 2026 for cobalt, blue, square and sunflower vases turned up no match, so the maker and country can't be traced.
The decoration is freehand, not printed. The blue goes on in visible, overlapping brushstrokes; the sunflowers differ from side to side in size and placement; the brown centers are dabbed on in dots with flecks of white left showing; and the leaves have thin white vein lines. Blue glaze has also run and smeared onto the white base, and a drop of yellow sits on it, the kind of slip a decorator makes while handling a piece. Each vase painted this way comes out a little different, which is one reason a second copy is hard to find by photo.
The blue is almost certainly cobalt. Cobalt ores have colored pottery and porcelain blue since antiquity, from Chinese blue and white porcelain to Iznik tiles and Polish Bolesławiec stoneware, because cobalt stays a strong, stable blue through the heat of the kiln. Yellow sunflowers on a cobalt ground are a common pairing in decorative pottery, and lookalikes for sale on October 29, 2026 came from Mexico (Talavera-style), Portugal, Italy and China, plus giftware sold by Burton & Burton. The sunflower itself is one of the most familiar flower motifs, helped by Van Gogh's sunflower paintings, which Wikipedia calls perhaps his most widely reproduced series.
One unmarked lidded jar listed that day comes closest in style: the same brushed blue ground with faint background petals and a sunflower with a stippled center. Its seller doesn't know the maker either. Until a marked or labeled piece in this exact style turns up, this vase is best described as unmarked hand painted decorative pottery of the late 20th century or later, based on style only.
This vase and the sunflower-on-blue pieces it gets mixed up with
From this copy and listing photos, checked October 29, 2026. None of the lookalikes is a match.
| Version | Marks | Tells | Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| This vase Unidentified | None | Square body, brushed cobalt and periwinkle all over, faint background petals, glazed white base | About 8 in. |
| Unmarked lidded sunflower jar Closest style | None shown | Same brushy blue with background petals and stippled centers, but a round lidded jar with yellow bands | Not given |
| Burton & Burton sunflower vase Giftware | Sold under the Burton & Burton name | Molded raised sunflowers on a dark blue majolica-style glaze, round body | About 6–7 in. |
| Mexican Talavera-style sunflower pieces Mexico | Varies; sellers list them as Mexican | Flat, outlined sunflowers on solid cobalt, often with cream bands | Varies |
- Freehand or decal? Look for brushstrokes in the ground and small differences between the flowers on each side. A decal repeats exactly and sits flat on the glaze.
- Check the clay at the foot. This vase's bare foot rim is pale cream; one Chinese lookalike listed shows red-brown clay there.
- Look for a label ghost. Imports were often sold with only a paper sticker; a clean rectangle on a grimy base can show where it was.
- Raised or painted? Burton & Burton and similar giftware sunflowers are molded in relief; on this vase they are painted flat.
Yellow sunflowers on brushy cobalt blue
The cobalt sunflower vase stands about 8 inches tall. Its body is square in section with four flat sides and crisp corners, slightly wider at the shoulder than at the foot. The shoulder rounds into a short, round neck that flares to a rolled lip, and the body sits on a small, round, slightly flared foot. Everything outside, plus the inside of the neck, is glossy cobalt blue (deep royal blue) brushed with lighter periwinkle strokes; large faint daisy or sunflower shapes are brushed into the blue on each side behind the main flowers.
Each side shown has one or two painted sunflowers placed at different heights, some running over the corners. The petals are golden yellow with darker yellow strokes and darker outlines; the round centers are stippled brown and rust with small white flecks. Green leaves (olive to sage green) have thin white vein lines. The painting is loose and quick, with no outlining around the blue.
- Front: two sunflowers, one near the shoulder running over the corner and one lower down, over faint background petals.
- Next side: one sunflower at mid-height, set toward a corner. The other two sides aren't fully shown in the photos.
- Neck: plain brushed blue inside and out, rolled lip.
- Base: flat and glazed milky white, with blue smears and drips near the edge and two small yellow spots; the wide foot rim is unglazed pale cream clay with brown grime.
- Marks: none. No stamp, signature, number or label.
- This copy: glaze glossy and bright; a small white patch in the center of the upper sunflower on the front, where color is missing or skipped; grime on the foot rim. No chips or cracks show in the photos.
Base: no mark No stamp, signature, number or labelChecked from the owner's photo of the base.
- Cobalt blue sunflower vase
- Square blue vase with sunflowers
- Hand painted sunflower vase blue
- Blue and yellow sunflower pottery vase
- Four sided sunflower ceramic vase
No other copies for sale right now
No copy of this vase was found on eBay or Etsy, checked October 29, 2026. Similar sunflower pieces are covered under How to identify it.
About the Cobalt Blue Sunflower Vase, Square Body
Who made this cobalt blue sunflower vase?
It isn't known. The base has no stamp, signature, number or label, and no matching vase turned up in searches of eBay and Etsy on October 29, 2026.
Is it really hand painted?
Yes. The blue ground is laid on in visible brushstrokes, the sunflowers on different sides don't match each other, and blue glaze has run and smeared onto the white base, all signs of freehand work rather than a print or decal.
Where was it made?
It can't be told from this vase. Yellow sunflowers on a cobalt ground were sold from Mexico, Portugal, Italy, China and as Burton & Burton giftware, and imports were often sold with only a paper label.
Why is the glaze blue?
Almost certainly cobalt. Cobalt has colored pottery and porcelain blue since antiquity because it stays a strong, stable blue through the heat of the kiln.
How big is it?
This copy measures about 8 inches (20 cm) tall to the rim.
What is it worth?
Not much as a collectible. Similar unmarked hand painted sunflower vases asked about $18 to $28 before shipping on October 29, 2026. Those are asking prices for lookalikes, not sales of this vase.
- Owner's photos of this vase, including the tape measure and the unmarked base
- Wikipedia: Cobalt blue, for cobalt as the blue in pottery and porcelain since antiquity, in Chinese porcelain, Iznik ware and Bolesławiec stoneware, and its stability
- Wikipedia: Sunflowers (Van Gogh series), for the series being his most widely reproduced
- eBay: unmarked lidded sunflower jar, the closest style found
- eBay search for cobalt sunflower vases, for the Mexican, Portuguese, Italian, Chinese and Burton & Burton lookalikes
- eBay search for square blue sunflower vases and Etsy search for cobalt sunflower vases, the searches that found no match
- Gotheborg: 20th century Japanese marks, on imports sold with paper labels instead of backstamps