Potpourri Vase (Vase potpourri à vaisseau)

Description This exceptional vase, which rests on a gilded wooden base, takes the form of a stylized boat, complete with rigging, port-holes and a flag. This might refer to the coat-of-arms of the city of Paris. At each side is a mask crowned with reeds and holding spars in its mouth. The lower part is decorated with a scene of sailors packing fish on the front, and a marine themed trophy on the back, painted by Jean-Louis Morin. The design of the vase is attributed to Jean-Claude Duplessis père. Similar pieces can be found in The J. Paul Getty Museum, the Musée du Louvre, Waddesdon Manor, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Royal Collection in the United Kingdom, The Wallace Collection, and The Frick Collection.

Provenance E. M. Hodgkins Collection, Paris, no. 30; A. Seligmann, Rey and Co., New York; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1928, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Factory Mark] On base: Intertwined Lls; [Painter's Mark] Enclosed in apex of factory mark: M; [Date] Letter: L (1764); [Decorator's Mark] On base in blue: M (Morin, Jean-Louis)

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1928