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Covered bowl and stand


écuelle ronde tournée et plateau rond
Made at: Sèvres Manufactory (France)
French
1759–60

Medium/Technique Soft-paste porcelain, polychrome enamels, gold
Dimensions Overall (bowl with cover): 11.5 x 17 x 13.8 cm (4 1/2 x 6 11/16 x 5 7/16 in.)
Other (stand): 3.6 x 20.2 cm (1 7/16 x 7 15/16 in.)
Credit Line Bequest of Forsyth Wickes—The Forsyth Wickes Collection
Accession Number65.1785a-c
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsCeramicsPorcelain

DescriptionThe circular bowl has two ear-shaped handles composed of two interlacing branches with leaf terminals. The domed cover is surmounted by a finial in the form of a twisted branch with leaves and berries. The circular stand has a scalloped rim and a circular well to fit the foot of the bowl. The ground colors are pink (rose) and green (vert) and have been applied in scrolling bands with gilt borders with feathered gilding where the bands terminate. The green bands frame the reserves on the bowl, the lid, and the stand, all of which are painted with mixed flowers. The rims of the bowl, lid, and stand are decorated with gilt dentil bands.
Marks Bowl: incised T or I and jo or jc. Stand: incised T or I.
ProvenanceBefore 1910, sold by Duveen Brothers, New York, to J. Pierpont Morgan (b. 1837 - d. 1913), New York [see note 1]; March 22-25, 1944, J. Pierpont Morgan estate sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, lot 626, sold to Forsyth Wickes (b. 1876 - d. 1964), New York and Newport, RI; 1965, bequest of Forsyth Wickes to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 24, 1965)

NOTES:
[1] J. P. Morgan inventory numbers P.M. 1703A-1703C remain on the undersides of the cover, bowl, and stand. The very early history of this ècuelle and stand is unknown. Xavier Roger Marie de Chavagnac, in his Catalogue des porcelaines françaises de m. J. Pierpont Morgan (Paris, 1910), p. 84, cat. no. 100, suggests that they were purchased from the Sèvres Manufactory by a M. de Verdun in 1758. Jeffrey H. Munger, The Forsyth Wickes Collection in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston, 1992), cat. no. 125, rejects this hypothesis, noting however that two pink and green ècuelles and stands were purchased from Sèvres by Madame de Pompadour in December, 1760.