Ask the Scholar

Sèvres Manufactory produced this Neoclassical milk jug as part of a tea service for Louis-Philippe, King of France from 1830-1848. The service consisted of a matching coffeepot, teapot, sugar bowl, milk jug, and multiple sets of cups and saucers. The Walters Art Museum’s collection includes the teapot, sugar bowl, milk jug, and two cups and saucers. The milk jug would have held chilled milk to dilute strongly brewed tea. The service is ornamented in gilt gold, giving each piece a jewel-like. Louis-Philippe’s crowned monogram, encircled by bound branches of oak and laurel, takes a central position on each piece. Vines of ivy ring the top of the vessels, while flower buds are scattered across the porcelain’s white ground. Louis-Philippe abolished the practice of the Grand Couvert, the ritual of the King and Queen eating their meals before an audience as a way to reinforce hierarchy. However, he continued to use meal time to call attention to rank by commissioning Sèvres to produce different porcelain services for the various ranks in his household. Each royal residence had its own set of the different services. The pieces in the Walters’ tea set are examples of “le service des princes,” the Sèvres service used by the King and his family during visits to the Chateau de Compigne, a property northeast of Paris.