Plant Pot (Caisse à fleurs carrée)
This square plant pot takes it shape from the terracotta tubs used to hold orange trees at Versailles and other French royal palaces but the form has been shrunk down to a much smaller scale. The pot’s pink ground color frames shaped reserve panels on each of the four sides, which have been finely painted with children playing in landscapes. The borders of the panels are adorned with elaborate scroll- and trellis-work gilding.
In the past this pink ground color has often been called "rose Pompadour" or "rose Dubarry," after the famous mistresses of King Louis XV. However, there is no evidence that either mistress was associated with its invention.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
E. M. Hodgkins Collection, Paris, No. 10 [date and mode of acquisition unknow]; A. Seligmann, Rey and Co., New York; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1928, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Geographies
France, Sèvres (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H: 5 9/16 x W: 4 1/4 D: 4 1/4 in. (14.2 x 10.8 x 10.7 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
48.584