Advanced Search
Advanced Search

Covered sugar bowl and stand


sucrier feuille de choux et plateau
Made at: Sèvres Manufactory (France)
Decorated by: Etienne Evans (French, active 1778–1806)
French
1759

Medium/Technique Soft-paste porcelain with colored enamel and gilded decoration
Dimensions Overall (Bowl with cover): 11.5 x 15.3 x 11.9 cm (4 1/2 x 6 x 4 11/16 in.)
Overall (stand): 3.3 x 24.2 x 19.6 cm (1 5/16 x 9 1/2 x 7 11/16 in.)
Credit Line Bequest of Forsyth Wickes—The Forsyth Wickes Collection
Accession Number65.1809a-c
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsCeramicsPorcelain

DescriptionThe oval bowl has a simple footring and four reserved panels molded in low relief in the form of a cabbage leaf (feuille de choux). The domed cover, which has four smaller but similar reserved panels, is surmounted by a finial in the form of two interlocked branches with leaf terminals. The oval stand has four similarly molded reserved panels and a scalloped rim. The ground color is underglaze dark blue (bleu lapis) and the reserves are painted with birds in landscapes. Each reserve is framed by feathered gilding and a section of asymmetrical gilt scrolling, and a feathered gilt band extends from one reserve to another. The inner and outer rims of the bowl, the outer rim of the stand, and the rim of the cover are decorated with gilt dentil bands. A plain gilt band encircles the foot of both the bowl and the stand.
Marks Sugarbowl: interlaced Ls enclosing date letter G, painter's mark of a dagger for Etienne Evans (active at Sevres 1778-1806) below, in blue enamel; incised ca. Stand: painted marks as above; incised t t.
Provenance1759, possibly sold by the Sèvres factory to M. de Beauvoir [see note 1]. Paul Reinach, Paris. 1929, Jacques Seligmann et Fils, Paris (stock no. 4622); September 20, 1929, sold by Seligmann to Henry Walters (b. 1848 - d. 1931), New York and Baltimore [see note 2]; to his widow, Sarah Green Walters (b. 1848 - d. 1943), Baltimore; April 26, 1941, Mrs. Henry Walters sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, lot 644, 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] This sugar bowl and stand may have been one of the two "sucrier et plateaux feuilles de choux" sold at 72 livres each to M. de Beauvoir, September 12-20, 1759. See Jeffrey H. Munger et al., "The Forsyth Wickes Collection in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston" (Boston, 1992), pp. 173-174, cat. no. 120. [2] That this was acquired from Seligmann is according to the 1941 Parke-Bernet catalogue, p. 139, lot 644. Henry Walters purchased extensively from the Paris and New York branches of the Seligmann galleries; for the sale to him of a Sèvres sugar bowl and tray, see Archives of American Art, Jacques Seligmann and Co. Papers, Series I, General Correspondence, Box 99, folder 23, Walters, Henry; and Series 7, Financial Files and Shipping Records, Box 356, folder 1, Paris Office Financial Records, Sales 1913-1929.