Two Handled Covered Cup

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

MakerFlowers painted by Jean-Baptiste Tandart l'aîné (French, active 1754 - 1803)

Additional Title(s)

Gobelet à Lait

ClassificationsDECORATIVE ARTS

Date1757

Mediumsoft-paste porcelain, overglaze pink ground color, polychrome enamel decoration, gilding, accented with carmine enamel

Dimensions4 3/4 x 5 1/2 x 4 in. (12.1 x 14 x 10.2 cm.)

DescriptionA large bucket-shaped cup with two simple scroll handles and a high, domed cover with a flower knop.

Signed

InscribedThe cup is painted underneath in blue enamel with the crossed Ls of the Sèvres manufactory enclosing the date letter E for 1757; below the Ls are three horizontally disposed dots, Tandart's mark. It is incised underneath, in the bisque, FR, and y. Paper label: 647 A Two-Handled Cup and Saucer, painted with trailing garlands of roses and other flowers, and shaped rose-du-Barry borders delicately gilt with the shell and scroll ornament, by Tandart_ In case. Duveen label: C4383, annotated in graphite, 18

MarkingsThe cup is painted underneath in blue enamel with the crossed Ls of the Sèvres manufactory enclosing the date letter E for 1757; below the Ls are three horizontally disposed dots, Tandart's mark. It is incised underneath, in the bisque, FR, and y. Paper label: 647 A Two-Handled Cup and Saucer, painted with trailing garlands of roses and other flowers, and shaped rose-du-Barry borders delicately gilt with the shell and scroll ornament, by Tandart_ In case. Duveen label: C4383, annotated in graphite, 18

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

Label TextExecuted in two sizes, gobelets à lait à deux anses couverts (two-handled covered milk cups) were first recorded in 1752 with the model still in production in the 1780s. This model was made ensuite with a saucer (soucoupe) with deep sloping sides and was probably intended for milk drinks. The cup and saucer were usually sold singly, but sometimes in pairs or with matching other pieces.
This example survives without a saucer and is in the smaller of the two sizes made. It is decorated with a wide band of pink overglaze ground color on the cup and around the edge of the lid. The pink is decorated with a pattern of gilded scallop motifs and decorative swags, vines, and leaves in gold. Carmine enamel enhances and gives depth to these gilded designs. Garlands of polychrome flowers decorate the areas of white glaze. The knop is molded as a group of three flower heads and two small berries. The sides of the handles are decorated with a gilded floral design.
The lid on this cup seems slightly shallower than on other known examples of this shape and the knop is in the form of three flowers rather than one raised flower head, as is common on other, mostly later examples. This could represent an earlier variation of the lid form for this model of cup.

Status

On view

Object number27.77