An antique French sky blue and ivory white Parian ware porcelain vase decorated with raised relief grapes and songbirds motifs. Dated from the late 19th to the early 20th century. Unmarked. Parian ware is a type of biscuit porcelain imitating marble. It was developed around 1845 by the Staffordshire pottery manufacturer Mintons, and named after Paros, the Greek island renowned for its fine-textured, white Parian marble, used since antiquity for sculpture. It was also contemporaneously referred to as Statuary Porcelain by Copeland. Parian was essentially designed to imitate carved marble, with the great advantage that it could be prepared in a liquid form and cast in a mould, enabling mass production. Antique Porcelain Vases, Home Decor, Collectibles And Gifts.