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Pot á eau
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Water Jug and cover
Pot á eau
French
about 1772-80
Object Place: Europe, France
Medium/Technique
Soft-paste porcelain (pâte tendre) decorated in polychrome enamels and gold
Dimensions
12.2 x 9.7 cm (4 13/16 x 3 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Rita and Frits Markus
Accession Number1983.636a-b
CollectionsEurope
DescriptionThe pot (pot a eau), pear-shaped with a pedestal foot, has been thrown on a wheel. The V-shaped spout and plain C-shaped handle were applied opposite each other. The low-domed cover, which has an extension (broken and repaired) covering the spout, has a modeled rosebud finial with a stem and two leaves. The decoration on each side consists of a lady and a gentleman wearing powdered wigs and high-fashion garments, standing on the shore of a lake. The foreground on both sides is yellow, with brown rocks and blue-green shrubs and trees; in the background are houses with towers, sailing vessels, and distant mountains. On the obverse, the lady holds a white fan and wears a white shawl, a long yellow skirt and a pink sacque gathered at the back. The gentleman wears a bag wig, indicated by the black ribbon; his coat is blue, his stockings white, and he wears a sword. On the reverse, the gentleman is seen from the back, again wearing a bag wig, he carries a black hat under his arm and is wearing a green coat, white stockings, and a sword. The lady, in three-quarter view, wears a pink gown with a blue skirt over panniers and a white shawl. On the cover a fisherman, in a black hat and pink shirt, is seated on the shore. There are many minute black birds and pale blue clouds in the sky in all three scenes. The rosebud finial is dark pink (repaired), and the leaves are green, shaded with yellow, with brown veins. A bright blue enamel was used to enrich the handle and lower part of the spout, as well as to outline the gold band at the rim and on the cover. A gold band outlines the spout, and there is a plain gold band on the foot, a three-pointed gold ornament under the upper attachment of the handle, and five gold diamonds along the outer side of the handle. The porcelain is very white, with tiny black specks throughout. It has a creamy white translucency with pinpricks of light. There are fire cracks at the upper and lower attachments of the handle and a crack across the midsection of the spout, with a diamond-shaped flaw inside the spout. The circular hole on the lid opposite the spout is glazed and may have been for escaping steam or for attaching a hinge.
Marks
(1) on base of jug, incised: S.X
ProvenanceParis; 1961, Rita and Frits Markus; 1983, gift of Rita and Frits Markus to the MFA.