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Potpourri jar

Manufactory Louis Poterat Manufactory French
ca. 1690–95
Not on view
Porcelain was highly prized in seventeenth-century Europe, and the popularity of imported Chinese and Japanese porcelains led to various experiments in France to produce porcelain domestically. The French were skilled at making faience (tin-glazed earthenware), but the ingredients for true or hard-paste porcelain—as produced in Asia—were not known to French potters at this time.

The most successful experiments in producing an artificial porcelain, known as soft-paste, were carried out in small faience factories in Saint-Cloud and Rouen. The Saint-Cloud factory eventually was able to manufacture soft-paste porcelain on a viable, commercial scale, but the production of soft-paste in Rouen remained on a very limited and experimental basis.

This pot pourri is one of the very few surviving examples of Rouen porcelain. None of the porcelain made in Rouen bears a factory mark, so the attribution to Rouen is based on the style of the decoration and on the noticeably bluish cast of the glaze, which appears to be a common characteristic of Rouen porcelain.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Potpourri jar
  • Manufactory: Louis Poterat Manufactory (French, early 1690s–1696)
  • Date: ca. 1690–95
  • Culture: French, Rouen
  • Medium: Soft-paste porcelain decorated in underglaze blue
  • Dimensions: Overall (confirmed): 5 x 5 x 5 in. (12.7 x 12.7 x 12.7 cm)
  • Classification: Ceramics-Porcelain
  • Credit Line: Gift of R. Thornton Wilson, in memory of Florence Ellsworth Wilson, 1950
  • Object Number: 50.211.186
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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Potpourri vase (pot-pourri gondole), Sèvres Manufactory French, Soft-paste porcelain decorated in polychrome enamels, gold, French, Sèvres
Potpourri vase (pot-pourri gondole)
Multiple artists/makers
1757
Oriental with Jar, Tin-glazed soft-paste porcelain, French, Chantilly
Oriental with Jar
French, Chantilly
ca. 1735
Oriental with Potpourri Jar, Tin-glazed soft-paste porcelain, French, Chantilly
Oriental with Potpourri Jar
French, Chantilly
ca. 1735–40
Potpourri vase with candleholders (pot-pourri à bobêche) (one of a pair), Sèvres Manufactory French, Soft-paste porcelain, French, Sèvres
Potpourri vase with candleholders (pot-pourri à bobêche) (one of a pair)
Multiple artists/makers
ca. 1759–60
Potpourri Vase with Girl and Dog, Mennecy, Soft-paste porcelain, French, Mennecy
Potpourri Vase with Girl and Dog
Mennecy
ca. 1750–60

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