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Wine Cooler


Seaux à demi-bouteille ordinaire
Made at: Vincennes Manufactory (France)
French
1750–52
Object Place: Europe, France

Medium/Technique Soft-paste porcelain (pâte tendre) decorated in puce monochrome (camaïeu pourpre) and gold
Dimensions 17.1 x 21.2 cm (6 3/4 x 8 3/8 in.)
Credit Line Gift of Rita and Frits Markus
Accession Number1983.637
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsCeramicsPorcelain

DescriptionThese cylindrical coolers were made through the collaboration of several specialized workmen: they were thrown in molds by the tourneurs, the molding at the top and the splayed foot were added by
the répareurs, and the interlocking twig handles were attached by the anseurs. In addition to the slight difference in the size of the two coolers, the molding at the top of no. 60a is sharper than that of no. 60b and no. 60a has an additional turned detail above the foot; also, the foliate terminals of the handles of no. 60a are more ornate, with berries that are lacking in no. 60b. Both coolers are decorated with two rural landscapes in puce monochrome (camaieu pourpre), each with two people in the foreground of a scene with trees, rocks, fences, houses near and distant, and water; there is a monument, an urn on a tall pedestal, on one side of no. 60b. All the scenes are wider than they are high, giving a feeling of a continuous landscape; the horizontal feeling is strengthened by the borders in puce below the top molding and, at the foot, a scroll pattern between bands. On no. 60a there is a gold band above the puce border at the foot (there are slight indications that no. 60b had a similar band); the upper edge of each is gilded, as are the leafy terminals of the handles, which are touched with puce.
Marks (1) on base, in blue enamel: interlaced Ls enclosing a dot, two dots above
ProvenanceParis; 1963, Rita and Frits Markus; 1983, gift of Rita and Frits Markus to the MFA.