Vase [1 of 2]

Maker Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory (French, active from 1756 to the present)

MakerFlowers painted by Charles-Louis Mereaud jeune (French, ca. 1735 - 1780, active 1756 - 1780)

Additional Title(s)

Vase Hollandois Nouveau Ovale

ClassificationsDECORATIVE ARTS

Date1758

Mediumsoft-paste porcelain, underglaze blue (bleu lapis) and overglaze green ground colors, polychrome enamel decoration, gilding

Dimensions7 1/2 x 6 x 5 in. (19.1 x 15.2 x 12.7 cm.)

DescriptionThe oval vase is in two parts. The lower part with four feet and vertical sides, has a pierced shoulder with four large opeings framed by a cartouche of six to eught smaller openings; indentations run from the feet to the rim. The upper, trumpet shaped part, with matching indentations, is pierces with ten holes at the base, concealed when the two parts are assembles, and waisted above the flange resting on the lower part. Decorated with underglaze blue (bleu lapis) and green (verd) ground colors, and painted in white reserves, two each in the lower and upper parts with flowers. The blue ground is overlaid with caillouté gilding; the green ground, edged with gilding forms scrolls, husks, and cartouches around the reserves.

InscribedOn base sections of both vases: painted marks in blue enamel, the crossed Ls of the Sèvres manufactory; the date letter F for 1758; a comma, Méreaud's mark; incised marks ae; Duveen label: 27428 / 2

MarkingsOn base sections of both vases: painted marks in blue enamel, the crossed Ls of the Sèvres manufactory; the date letter F for 1758; a comma, Méreaud's mark; incised marks ae; Duveen label: 27428 / 2

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. The Arabella D. Huntington Memorial Art Collection.

Label TextThe vase hollandois nouveau ovale was first introduced at Sèvres in 1758 and remained in production until the 1780s. It is a variation of a shape introduced at Vincennes in 1754 known as a vase hollandois, which had a flat base with straight-sided angled walls at the upper section. The newer form had a lower section raised slightly on four feet and an upper section with walls that flared outward at the top-the whole being less heavy and more elegant than the earlier form. The name probably refers to the Dutch passion for flowering bulbs. The vase was made in two sections, the upper part intended to hold plants or bulbs in earth; the lower section for holding water, which could be added through the openings in the shoulder and would then be absorbed into the soil in the upper section through small holes in the base of that section (see Technical Notes). Although the factory's stock list for 1759 lists molds for the vase hollandois nouveau in both round and oval versions, most of the surviving examples are oval, and they were usually sold in pairs (see also cat. 79), though garnitures of three vases are known (see cat. 80).
These two vases are among the earliest known examples of this shape in the fourth of five sizes.9 They are decorated with an underglaze blue overlaid with a gilded caillouté pattern and an overglaze green edged with gilding to form cartouches on the four sides of each part. The cartouches at the long sides of each upper and lower section frame white reserves painted with polychrome floral sprays. The cartouches at each of the narrow sides are decorated with the blue ground and gilded caillouté pattern. The palette for the flowers is pale and the rendering is somewhat slight, with some of the leaves remaining unfinished. These floral reserves do not make a strong contrast with the rest of the vase that is so heavily decorated in comparison with the painting. None of the gilding is tooled and the caillouté pattern is unusual in that there are clusters of gilt dots in the center of each oval.

Status

On view

Object number27.42