Pot à lait à trois pieds: C.31-1961

Titles

Pot à lait à trois pieds
Translated as: three-legged milk jug

Maker(s)

Factory: Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory

Entities

• Milk jug
• Factory name: pot à laict à pieds
• Factory name: pot à lait à trois pieds

Categories

• Soft-paste porcelain
• Teaware

Description

Soft-paste porcelain, milk jug decorated with a green ground, a reserve painted in enamels with a bird on a branch, and gilding

Soft-paste porcelain, decorated with an green ground, painting in blue, shades of green, pink, mauve, and brown enamels, and gilding. The jug stands on three short rustic feet. The bulbous body contracts at the neck and then flares upwards and outwards at the front to form a lip, the rim at the sides being slightly everted and notched. The rustic handle rises up directly from the rim and curves upwards and then outwards and downwards in a single loop until it meets the most bulbous part of the body. Sprays of flowers and leaves in relief sprout from the junctions of the legs and handle with the body. The pear-shaped reserve beneath the lip is painted in polychrome enamels with a mauve and blue bird perched on the branch of a tree with more trees in the background, and surrounded by a band of gilding tooled with a zig-zag line. There is a band of gold oeil-de-perdrix pattern on the green ground immediately below the lip, which is divided from the remainder of the ground by a wavy gold line entwined with a garland of gold leaves. The flowers and leaves in relief are gilded and there are touches of gilding on the feet and handle.

Notes

History note: Unknown before testator

Legal notes

L.C.G. Clarke Bequest, 1960

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1961-04-27) by Clarke, Louis Colville Gray

Dating

18th Century, Mid
Louis XV
Production date: circa AD 1760 : no date letter

Note

The pot à lait a trois pieds, a form made earlier in silver, was introduced at Vincennes in 1752. This example is of the second size which was mentioned in 1753. Green grounds were rare before 1756, and were probably not in normal production until after the move to Sèvres. The shade became darker, which suggests that this unmarked example dates from several years later.

School or Style

Rococo