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Cup and Saucer
French
1758
Object Place: Europe, France
Medium/Technique
Soft-paste porcelain (pâte tendre) with underglaze-blue ground (bleu lapis), decorated in polychrome enamels and gold
Dimensions
5.4 x 8.5 cm (2 1/8 x 3 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Rita and Frits Markus
Accession Number1983.643a-b
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
DescriptionThe cup is pear-shaped with a handle of two twisted or interlacing branches with leaf terminals. The saucer is in the shape of a shallow bowl. The outside of the cup and the inside of the saucer have a deep blue underglaze ground (bleu lapis) on which are reserved a heart-shaped cartouche opposite the handle on the cup and a circular central cartouche on the saucer. Both cartouches are framed symmetrically with chased gold palm leaves and flower sprays, which very consciously take advantage of the white areas left by the painter of the scenes; on the saucer, a gold insect is placed at the lower left (about 7:30), probably to hide a flaw in the glaze. Both pieces have rounded gold dentil rims and plain gold bands at the foot ring. The handle is also partially gilded. Both cartouches are painted in polychrome with children in garden landscapes. On the cup a little girl in profile to the left is kneeling on the rocks on her right knee, her left foot on the ground, and is blowing a soap bubble from a straw, a bowl is on the rock before her. On the saucer, a boy is seated on the rocks in frontal view, looking down slightly to his right; he holds a leafy twig in both hands against his left shoulder; his left knee is slightly bent, with the foot behind the right leg.
Marks
on base of cup:
(1) in blue enamel: interlaced Ls enclosing date letter F; above, the painter's mark, a label of three points; below, a dot
(2) incised: unidentified mark
on base of saucer:
(3) in blue enamel: interlaced Ls enclosing date letter F; above, painter's mark, a label of three points; below, a dot
(4) incised: 4
(5) inside foot ring of saucer, in underglaze blue: two dots
(1) in blue enamel: interlaced Ls enclosing date letter F; above, the painter's mark, a label of three points; below, a dot
(2) incised: unidentified mark
on base of saucer:
(3) in blue enamel: interlaced Ls enclosing date letter F; above, painter's mark, a label of three points; below, a dot
(4) incised: 4
(5) inside foot ring of saucer, in underglaze blue: two dots