Cup with Poppies

Description Thesmar began his career designing textiles but was later employed as an enameler. Beginning in about 1890, Thesmar began to work in "plique-à-jour," or openwork, enamel. By 1912, the year of his death, Thesmar was acclaimed as France's finest enameler. Because of their extreme fragility, few of his works survive. On the base of this cup is an enameled beetle.

Exhibitions

• Objects of Vertu: Precious Works of the Eighteenth Century. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1984.
• Russian Enamels. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1996-1997.
• From Rye to Raphael: The Walters Story. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2014-2016.

Provenance Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Signature] TF (conjoined)

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters