Flower Vase (cuvette à fleurs Courteille)

Flower Vase (cuvette à fleurs Courteille)

LCSH: Porcelain, French—18th century—Pictorial works | Porcelain, French—Private collections | Porcelain, French—Vincennes—18th century—Slide collections | Vincennes porcelain—18th century—Pictorial works | Slides (Photography)—Private collections | Fritzsche, Ulrich—Art collections—Pictorial works | Ceramic tableware—France—18th century | Vases—France—18th century | Gilding—France—18th century | Marine art—France—18th century | Ships in art | Battleships | Battles in art | Naval battles

Getty AAT keywords: porcelain (material) | porcelain (visual works) | dinnerware | vases | porcelain painting (image-making) | gilding-technique | seascapes | marines (visual works) | boats | full-rigged ships | naval ships | warships | naval battles | weapons

35mm color slide of a Courteille flower vase (Vincennes Porcelain Manufactory), with a bleu céleste (celestial blue) ground color, and a white rim with gilded edges. In the central reserve is a painting depicting a maritime battle, a rare topic for Vincennes porcelain. It has been identified as the Battle of Solebay (1672), a conflict between the Dutch and an Anglo-French fleet: the flags on the ships to the left are Dutch (horizontal red, white, and blue stripes), while the ships to the right are flying the white flags of the French Royal Navy. This vase once belonged to Madame de Pompadour, and was on display as a centerpiece at her château in Saint-Ouen. Julie Emerson notes that this vase (cuvette), along with the other pieces that Pomadour displayed beside it, may have represented “a glorious statement of French wealth and power.” Emerson also credits Dr. Fritzsche for unearthing this object’s relation to Madame de Pompadour’s inventory. The mark on the bottom is for Louis-Denis Armand aîné (the elder; active 1745–88), who is believed to be the painter of both this scene and the trophy on the reverse (Emerson 2000, 148; Emerson 2007, 60–65, 66n16, 66n19). For the reverse of this object, see Slide 10b. Find more details on this object on the SAM Digital Collections page. The number 10 is handwritten on the slide.

Fritzsche, Ulrich (creator of slide); D’Arms, Ted (photographer); Vincennes Porcelain Manufactory (creator of object)

Seattle Art Museum Libraries

1755–56 (date of object)

May 1990 (date of slide)

Painter, Kirsten Blythe

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application/jpg

English | French

still image

See Complete Bibliography for the Fritzsche Porcelain Collection

France

eighteenth century (dates CE)

slide, scanned using an Epson Perfection V600 Photo scanner at 3200 dpi.