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Source Description

This covered sugar bowl is part of a tea service composed of a matching milk jug, teapot, tray, and a cup and saucer. The sugar bowl would have held refined, white sugar imported from the New World. 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 sugar bowl features two large reserves, one depicting birds taking off in flight and one depicting an arrangement of colorful flowers. 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
7443
label
Sugar Bowl and Cover (pot à sucre ‘Bouret’)
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
8
Source metadata
id
7443
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Sugar Bowl and Cover (pot à sucre ‘Bouret’)
description
This covered sugar bowl is part of a tea service composed of a matching milk jug, teapot, tray, and a cup and saucer. The sugar bowl would have held refined, white sugar imported from the New World. 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 sugar bowl features two large reserves, one depicting birds taking off in flight and one depicting an arrangement of colorful flowers. 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
sugar bowls
covers
imageCount
8
pageCount
8
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
10.9
height
9.5
dimensionsRaw
Overall Bowl & Lid (A & B) H: 4 5/16 × Diam: 3 3/4 in. (10.9 × 9.5 cm); Bowl (A) H: 3 × Diam: 3 1/2 in. (7.6 × 8.9 cm); Lid H: 1 1/2 × Diam: 3 3/4 in. (3.8 × 9.5 cm).
Source extras
inscriptions
[Factory Mark] Intertwined blue Lls with a “.” in the middle on bottom of bowl; [Artist Mark] Blue triangle with “.” in the inside for Buteux fils cadet on bottom of bowl; [Sticker] Torn with red boarders and “149 a & b” written in pencil affixed to bottom of bowl.
RelatedObjects
39659
20747
med
soft paste porcelain
creator_ids
34583
4819
1916
6229
collection_ids
none
exhibition_ids
none
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