Description: Fruit Baskets and their matching stands are very popular and are one of the most useful and decorative of Canton forms. We have divided Fruit Baskets into 5 categories: No Handles, Shell Handles, Twisted Handles, Square Handles & Florets, and Solid Sided. This page is devoted to the rare reticulated or pierced baskets with shell handles (or as Schiffer called them “leaf handles”). The term “reticulated” means here, a network of elongated holes. Shown are 5 baskets and their stands ranging in size from 6 3/8″ long to 9 5/8″ long. Color of reticulated baskets ranges from a light blue to dark blue. The baskets in this category are found with 4 reticulation patterns: 4 & 3, 3, 3 & 2 in vertical rows–quite a mixture. All the stands have 2 holes in succession around the rims.

There are shell handle variations: baskets 1 & 4 have simple handles straight up (bottom left photo); basket 3 has more curved shells but a plain attachment (bottom middle photo), baskets 2 & 5 have very curved shells and fancy attachments at the handle’s bottom (bottom right photo). Note that basket 5 is missing its handles but has attachments so, some conjecture here.

These baskets and stands have in common: rain cloud borders around their rims, they are all oval, the stands are slightly larger than the baskets and all have glazed bottoms. Herbert Schiffer mentions and pictures a round basket with shell handles (page 134), we have never seen a perfectly round one or its stand. There are round, 8″, late and light weight reticulated desert plates.

Fruit baskets with handles are quite a bit more expensive than baskets with no handles and baskets with the curved handles and fancy attachments are very rare and the oldest of all the baskets. All handles are very delicate and exposed and can be easily damaged. That is one reason why undamaged baskets are more expensive. When buying baskets with handles look carefully to see if they have been repaired which would affect the value. Baskets and stands often become separated and we estimate that stands alone are about 1/3 the value of a set.