Perfumer (Cassolette)

Description The "marchands-merciers," or purveyors of the arts, frequently determined the course of fashion in 18th-century France. In this instance, a "marchand-mercier" has had a Chinese porcelain figure of the Buddhist monk Pu-tai Ho Shang and a cup mounted in an ormolu bower adorned with Vincennes porcelain flowers. The ormolu is stamped with the crowned "C" mark indicating that it was made between 1745 and 1749.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
10/26/1960	Treatment	cleaned
1/28/1985	Treatment	cleaned

Exhibitions

• Chinese Porcelains in European Mounts. China Institute, New York. 1980-1981.
• The Allure of Bronze. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1995.

Provenance Henry Walters, New York [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Sadie Jones (Mrs. Henry Walters), New York, 1931, by inheritance; Joseph Brummer, New York [date of acquisition unknown], by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1941, by purchase.

Inscriptions stamped with the crowned C

Credit Museum purchase [formerly part of the Walters Collection], 1941