Pearl Lustre Porcelain Bowl with White Lilies and Gold Pierced Handles
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An unmarked lustre bowl, and what its finish tells you
The pearl lustre porcelain bowl with white lilies and gold pierced handles is a round, deep white porcelain bowl whose inside shimmers pink, blue and gold, with a printed bouquet of two white lilies and pink flowers in the center, a wide gold border that breaks into flame-like points, and three gilded handles, each pierced with a triangle. The outside is plain glossy white and the base has no mark of any kind: no stamp, no number, no label. Searches of eBay, Etsy, Poshmark and general web listings on October 29, 2026 found no matching bowl, so the maker and country can't be traced.
The shimmer is a lustre. A lustre is a very thin metallic film brushed over a piece that is already glazed and fired, then fired again at a lower temperature in a muffle kiln, which leaves a coat thin enough to break light into colors. Meissen experimented with a mother-of-pearl lustre as early as about 1716 to 1720, and in the 19th century Wedgwood and Belleek made pearl lustres from bismuth nitrate. By the 20th century pearl lustre over white glaze was a cheap way to make gift china look rich, and it was used in Germany, Japan and the United States.
Bowls in this exact style, with lustre, a printed flower center and a brushed gold edge, turn up from several sources. The Pearl China Co. of East Liverpool, Ohio, which a museum record dates to 1931 to 1958, sold iridescent lustre bowls with 22-karat gold trim, stamped "Pearl China Co. Hand Decorated 22 KT Gold U.S.A." An unmarked lustre dish with a very similar white lily bouquet but a different, scrolled rim was for sale on October 29, 2026, listed by its seller as Japanese. Unmarked lustre bowls sold as German turn up too. Missing marks don't settle the question: Japanese export wares were often sold with only a paper label, and the Gotheborg marks reference warns that the lack of a backstamp proves nothing about origin.
What this copy does show: the bouquet is a decal, not painted, with crisp edges and smooth shading. The gold looks brushed on, with streaks visible in the band and the points of the border feathered out by hand. The lustre covers only the inside. Any of those points can help match a second copy if one surfaces with its label or mark intact.
This bowl and the lustre bowls 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 bowl Unidentified | None | Three triangle-pierced handles molded into the rim, feathered gold border, lily decal, lustre inside only | Not measured |
| Unmarked lustre lily dish Lookalike, seller says Japan | None | Very similar white lily and pink flower decal, but a scrolled rim with open scroll handles and a plain gold edge | Not given |
| Pearl China Co. lustreware Ohio, 1931–1958 | Gold stamp "Pearl China Co. Hand Decorated 22 KT Gold U.S.A." | Oil-slick iridescent lustre, heavy 22K gold handles and trim, often cream rather than white | Varies |
| German lustre handled bowls Sold as German | None on the copy listed | Same mottled pearl lustre with a fruit or flower center and gold handles | Varies |
- Check for a ghost of a label. A faint rectangle or oval of dirt on the base can show where a paper label once sat.
- Look at the gold under light. Brushed gold shows streaks and thin spots; printed gold is even. Here the streaks show clearly in the border.
- Lustre wears from the inside. Light scratches and dull patches in the lustre where spoons and fruit touched it are normal and show age.
- The decal can match across makers. Decal sheets were sold to many decorators, so the same lily bouquet on another bowl doesn't prove the same maker.
White lilies in a pearly bowl with a feathered gold rim
The pearl lustre lily bowl is a deep, round white porcelain bowl with sloping sides and a gently waved rim that rises at each of three handles. The whole inside is coated in a pearl lustre that flashes pink, pale blue, lilac and gold, with a mottled, oil-on-water look in places. The outside is plain glossy white with no lustre and no decoration.
The center holds a printed bouquet: two large white lilies (white petals shaded lilac, with red-brown stamens and a yellow-green throat), two deep pink double flowers like chrysanthemums or carnations, a small cluster of pink five-petaled flowers with yellow eyes like primroses, long striped dark green leaves and a few gray-green toothed leaves. Around the rim runs a wide band of gold (warm yellow gold, slightly matte) whose inner edge breaks into tall, uneven flame or icicle points. Each of the three handles is a flat tab molded into the rim, pierced with a triangle and gilded all over.
- Inside: pearl lustre all over, center bouquet, gold border with feathered points.
- Handles: three, evenly spaced, each a raised tab with a triangular hole, fully gilded.
- Outside: plain glossy white; the triangle holes show through.
- Base: glazed white center inside a stepped, two-ring foot; the foot edge is unglazed.
- Marks: none. No stamp, number, sticker or label spot.
- This copy: lustre bright with some light scratches, gold worn thin on the handles and at the rim edge, grime on the foot ring and a small rough spot on its edge. No chips or cracks show in the photos.
Base: no mark No stamp, number, signature or labelChecked from the owner's photo of the underside.
- Pearl lustreware bowl white lilies
- Iridescent lustre bowl gold handles
- Lusterware lily bowl three handles
- Mother of pearl lustre bowl gold rim
- Pierced handle lustre serving bowl
- Unmarked lustre bowl Japan or Germany
No other copies for sale right now
No copy of this bowl was found on eBay, Etsy or Poshmark, checked October 29, 2026. Similar lustre bowls are covered under How to identify it.
About the Pearl Lustre Bowl, White Lilies, Gold Handles
Who made this pearl lustre bowl with lilies?
It isn't known. The base has no stamp, number or label, and no matching bowl turned up in searches of eBay, Etsy and other sites on October 29, 2026.
Is it German or Japanese?
It can't be told from this bowl. Pearl lustre gift china with gold edges was made in Germany, Japan and the United States. Export pieces often carried only a paper label, so a missing mark doesn't point to any one country.
What is pearl lustre?
A very thin metallic film painted over the glaze and fired a second time at a low temperature. It gives the white glaze a rainbow shimmer like the inside of a shell. Wedgwood and Belleek made mother-of-pearl lustre in the 19th century with bismuth nitrate.
Is the bouquet hand painted?
It looks printed. The bouquet is a decal, with crisp edges, smooth shading and no brushstrokes. The gold border and handles look brushed on, with visible streaks in the gold.
How old is it?
Nothing on it gives a date. Lustre bowls with printed flowers and brushed gold edges were sold through much of the 20th century, and Ohio's Pearl China Co. made similar ware from 1931 to 1958, so a mid-20th-century date fits, based on style only.
What is it worth?
Not much. Similar unmarked and Pearl China Co. lustre bowls asked $7 to $23 before shipping on October 29, 2026. Those are asking prices for lookalikes, not sales of this bowl.
- Owner's photos of this bowl, including the unmarked underside
- Wikipedia: Lustreware, for the second, lower-temperature firing in a muffle kiln and Wedgwood and Belleek's mother-of-pearl lustre from bismuth nitrate
- V&A: Meissen tea bowl and saucer with mother-of-pearl lustre, about 1716–1720, for the early European pearl lustre
- Gotheborg: 20th century Japanese marks, for paper labels on export wares and why a missing backstamp proves nothing
- Utah State University art museum: Pearl China Co., for the maker's dates, 1931–1958
- Chairish: Pearl China Co. set, for the East Liverpool, Ohio location and the "Pearl China Co. Hand Decorated 22 KT Gold U.S.A." stamp
- eBay: unmarked lustre lily dish, for the similar lily decal on a different blank
- eBay search for lustre bowls with lilies and gold handles and for three-handled lustre bowls, the searches that found no match