- Museum number
- 1940,0401.7
- Description
-
Cup; soft-paste porcelain, thiny potted, highly translucent and with a shiny glaze; flared form, rim slightly out-turned, deep foot; interior of foot-rim only partly glazed; painted in deep underglaze-blue, zigzag around the foot, two groups of acanthus scrolls enclosing a covered vase surmounted by another containing three flowers; a lambrequin, scroll and vase motif is painted below the rim, around the inner part of which is a simplified zigzag motif; no marks.
- Production date
- 1700-1710 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 7.60 centimetres
-
Height: 8.30 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Dawson 1994
This cup is remarkably finely potted and in this respect is unlike other pieces made at the Saint-Cloud factory. It has evidently been turned on the lathe, like its counterpart in the Victoria and Albert Museum, in order to achieve the crisp shape. The decoration can be related in general terms to that found on Saint-Cloud examples, but here it is organised and executed with noticeable care. The discoloured foot rim is diagnostic of Saint-Cloud.
Although in the past it has been classified as one of the products of the Rouen factory, it does not correspond with the small group of pieces which could be attributed to Rouen on the grounds of their similarity to the mustard-pot and cover painted in underglaze-blue with the arms of the Rouen politician Asselin de Villequier (Musée national de Céramique, Sevres, inv. 4006 illus. in colour by Frégnac, Claude (ed.), ‘Les porcelainiers du XVIIIe siècle français’, Paris, 1964, p. 39).
Comparable Examples:
1) London, Victoria and Albert Museum, cup, inv. C. 497-1909, Fitzhenry Collection, illus. G. Wills, Dr Martin Lister and Early French Porcelain, ‘Connoisseur’, Vol. CXLI, no. 568, March 1958, p. 75, fig. 3
2) Scotland, Private Collection, cup
3) Paris, Musée des arts décoratifs, cup and saucer, inv. 32405, illus. H. Landais, ‘French Porcelain’, London, 1961, fig. 9
4) Paris, Musée des arts décoratifs, cup, inv. unknown.
Aileen Dawson is grateful to Bernard Dragesco for bringing 4) to her attention. The writer has handled neither of the Paris examples, but in November 1991 she re-examined them in the Museum gallery and is now of the opinion that they are different from the London pieces. The paste is less white, they are more clumsily potted and the underglaze-blue decoration is less assured.
All of these exhibit a distinctly bluish glaze, whereas the glaze on the cup is clear and exceptionally shiny in appearance.
- Location
- On display (G46/dc16)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1999 14 Jul-24 Oct, USA, New York, Bard Graduate Centre, St. Cloud Porcelain
- Acquisition date
- 1940
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1940,0401.7