Book flask: C.2347-1928

Maker(s)

Production: Unidentified (Possibly)

Entities

• Book flask
• flask

Categories

• Tin-glazed earthenware
• French faïence

Description

Tin-glazed earthenware flask in the form of a book with polychrome decoration. Inscribed on the spine 'LAViE DU/rEVErENT/PEre.dot.BOuGrE/POrTiE/ DU BOrdeL/de ST.e catheriNe/ a LYON/ 1789' and painted on one side with a squirrel winding wool, and on the other with a pornographic rabbit scene.

Tin-glazed earthenware painted in blue, green, yellow, orange, brown, and manganese-purple. Moulded in the form of a book with a cylindrical mouth at the top close to the spine, and four horizontal projections on the binding of the spine. The fore edge is painted yellow with orange stripes to indicate the pages. The spine is inscribed 'LAViE DU/rEVErENT/PEre.dot.BOuGrE/POrTiE[R]/ DU BOrdeL/de ST.e catheriNe/ a LYON/ 1789' in manganese-purple divided by orange striped yellow bands over the horizontal divisions of the binding. The right side is painted in polychrome with a seated squirrel winding wool into a ball from a stand, with clouds and birds overhead. The other side has two rabbits indulging in pornographic play, with clouds and birds overhead. On both sides the scene is framed by yellow and an orange lines.

Notes

History note: Walter Cole Plowright, Swaffham, Norfolk (a collection formed during the last forty years); sold at Puttick & Simpson’s, London, 12 December 1905, lot.61; bought for £1.10.0. by Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, FRS, Trinity College, Cambridge, who recorded the former owner's name as Cole Plow-Wright.

Legal notes

Dr J. W. L. Glaisher Bequest

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928-12-07) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr

Dating

18th Century, Late
Production date: dated AD 1789

Note

This book flask was attributed to Lyon on account of the inscription, but it might also have been made at Roanne, a short distance north west of Lyon where the manufacture of book flasks was one of the specialities of faïence factories there in the late 18th century. The book title may be an example of the rabid anti-clericalism prevalent during the Revolutionary era, or simply a vulgar joke - its pretending to be a biography of a man whose job would have enabled them to tell scandalous stories about inhabitants of Lyon.