Ask the Scholar

Document scope · 6 pages
obj
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory. For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.

Source Description

This pear-shaped jug originally held milk to accompany hot tea. Milk, served warm or cold, could be added to one’s beverage to change the temperature and make the bitter flavor of strong tea more palatable; because this particular jug lacks a cover, it likely held chilled milk. The jug is part of a tea service composed of a matching teapot, sugar bowl, tray, and a cup and saucer. All pieces in the set are ornamented with a rose ground color and a continuous pattern of gold, white, and blue pointille (dots) and contain large reserves, or areas reserved for imagery, filled with floral still lifes or intricately rendered birds of paradise. The milk jug has one large reserve on its belly, featuring a colorful bird standing on a log. The factory and artist marks, which appear on the bottom of each piece in the tea service, combined with the rose ground color raise several questions about the dating of the tea service. The factory mark seems to belong to the Royal Manufactory of Sèvres’s precursor, the Vincennes Manufactory, which operated between 1740 and 1756. However, the artist’s mark identifies Buteux fils cadet as the set’s primary painter; he never worked at Vincennes. The rose-colored glaze, which dominates the surface of the entire service, came into production in 1757 at Sèvres. These three distinct, datable elements of the porcelain set do not clearly align, thereby making it challenging to accurately date this porcelain service. The quality of the painted ornamentation and sculpting, however, indicate that the Sèvres Manufactory did produce this set of wares. Perhaps, this tea service is simply a late-18th-century, rose-colored version of an earlier service produced at Vincennes.

Scholar Source Context

Document identity
localId
39659
label
Milk Jug (pot à lait ‘à trios pieds’)
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
6
Source metadata
id
39659
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Milk Jug (pot à lait ‘à trios pieds’)
description
This pear-shaped jug originally held milk to accompany hot tea. Milk, served warm or cold, could be added to one’s beverage to change the temperature and make the bitter flavor of strong tea more palatable; because this particular jug lacks a cover, it likely held chilled milk. The jug is part of a tea service composed of a matching teapot, sugar bowl, tray, and a cup and saucer. All pieces in the set are ornamented with a rose ground color and a continuous pattern of gold, white, and blue pointille (dots) and contain large reserves, or areas reserved for imagery, filled with floral still lifes or intricately rendered birds of paradise. The milk jug has one large reserve on its belly, featuring a colorful bird standing on a log. The factory and artist marks, which appear on the bottom of each piece in the tea service, combined with the rose ground color raise several questions about the dating of the tea service. The factory mark seems to belong to the Royal Manufactory of Sèvres’s precursor, the Vincennes Manufactory, which operated between 1740 and 1756. However, the artist’s mark identifies Buteux fils cadet as the set’s primary painter; he never worked at Vincennes. The rose-colored glaze, which dominates the surface of the entire service, came into production in 1757 at Sèvres. These three distinct, datable elements of the porcelain set do not clearly align, thereby making it challenging to accurately date this porcelain service. The quality of the painted ornamentation and sculpting, however, indicate that the Sèvres Manufactory did produce this set of wares. Perhaps, this tea service is simply a late-18th-century, rose-colored version of an earlier service produced at Vincennes.
date
2nd half 18th century
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
cream pitchers
imageCount
6
pageCount
6
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
9.7
height
10.2
depth
7.4
dimensionsRaw
Overall Pitcher H: 3 13/16 × W with handle and spout: 4 × Max D: 2 15/16 in. (9.7 × 10.2 × 7.4 cm).
Source extras
inscriptions
[Factory Mark] Intertwined blue Lls with a “.” in the middle on bottom of jug; [Artist Mark] Blue triangle with “.” in the inside for Buteux fils cadet on bottom of jug; [Sticker] Torn with red boarders and “145” written in pencil affixed to bottom of jug.
RelatedObjects
20747
med
soft paste porcelain
creator_ids
34583
4819
1916
6229
collection_ids
none
exhibition_ids
none
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
f8f418f07eb98a03
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
c8df7e315aadd1db
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
3
type
photo
mediaId
feabf9126906b957
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
4
type
photo
mediaId
46590f81a5300f51
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
5
type
photo
mediaId
40b88125f94b71d0
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
6
type
photo
mediaId
a6600ee730a6a8a6
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no