Covered Bowl and Stand

Mennecy Factory (France, 1750-73)

c. 1750

Medium
Soft-paste porcelain and silver
Classification
Ceramics
Dimensions
Covered Bowl: 13.5 × 18.6 × 12.4 cm (5 5/16 × 7 5/16 × 4 7/8 in.); Stand: 4.2 × 20.5 cm (1 5/8 × 8 1/16 in.)
Culture
Mennecy
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago, Applied Arts of Europe
Credit line
Bequest of Victor Carlson
Rights
Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed

View at the Art Institute of Chicago

About this work

This covered bowl and stand, with only applied decoration and a clear lead glaze, reflects the broad interest in white, undecorated Chinese and Japanese wares in Europe in the eighteenth century. Referred to generally as blanc de Chine, these objects relied entirely on form and the purity of the porcelain clay for their beauty and interest. Many European factories, including Mennecy, Chantilly, Sèvres, Du Paquier, and Meissen, produced objects in imitation of blanc de Chine wares, though in the case of this covered bowl and stand, Mennecy has employed a classical rather than Far Eastern vocabulary. The overall form takes its inspiration from European silver, and the S-shaped handles and carefully modeled swags of leaves and currants are decidedly Western.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0