Cup and Saucer from a Coffee and Tea Set

This beverage service for one person, known as a "solitaire," is made of fine earthenware, or faience, as it would have been called in France where the set was produced in the 1770s. Each piece in the set has been painted to imitate wood (faux bois) onto which a landscape painted in shades of pink on white “paper” has been hung up with a “tack”. In fact, to create this set, the forms were made in a reddish clay body that was then glazed in an overall tin-oxide glaze. When fired, this glaze provided a white ground over which the painted decoration was added. The white “paper” of the landscapes in this set’s decorative schemes is actually the white of the unadorned ground glaze.

During the 1770s this style of trompe l'oeil patterning became a specialty of the ceramics factory located in Niderviller, a small town in the Lorraine area of northeastern France. The Niderviller Factory was renowned for the delicacy of its faience wares, which almost equaled the contemporary porcelain of Meissen and Sèvres in refinement of execution. Indeed, Niderviller also produced porcelain as well as earthenware over the course of its history, creating both functional and decorative objects in both materials.

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Provenance

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

Collection of Sarah Bartow (Steuart) Steuart (Mrs. James L. Steuart, 1864–1948), Montclair, New Jersey, by March 1916 [1]; given to [?] Frances Montell Steuart (1871–1955), Baltimore, before October 1943 [2]; purchased by the Walters Art Museum, October 1943.

[1]. A letter dated 6 March 1916 from Russell A. Plimpton, Department of Decorative Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, to “Mrs. James L. Steuart,” Montclair, New Jersey, regarding this set by Niderviller is preserved in the WAM object file for the set. Mrs. Steuart was offering to sell the set to the Metropolitan at the time.
[2]. A note dating to around 1943 in the WAM object file for this set indicates it was “available for sale” from “Miss Francis Stewart [Frances Steuart]” of “2127 N Charles St.”, Baltimore. Frances Steuart and Sarah Steuart were sisters.