Demitasse and Saucer

The cup is bordered by a plique-à-jour band of stylized blossoms and leaves in red and blue in a gilt background. Immediately below comes a band of white en plein enamel over a guilloché ground engraved in a zigzag pattern. The lower half of the cup is decorated with exotic lotus-like blossoms with blue and green petals alternating with tear-shaped white motifs bordered in blue and containing three light blue circles terminating in red translucent circles over a stippled ground. The handle is decorated with turquoise diamond shapes over green enamel flanked by rows of blue circles. On the handle's thumb piece an F is engraved in Latin.

The saucer adheres to the same decorative scheme apart from its center which may reflect either direct or indirect Islamic influences. The rosette with eight pointed, white petals is enclosed by a corona graduating in color from dark to light blue. It is enclosed within two square shapes outlined in blue and green creating triangles occupied by blue and red blossoms.

Inscription

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Acquired by Jean M. Riddell, Washington, D.C.; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 2010.