Cup and Socketed Saucer (gobelet et soucoupe enfoncé)

Cup and Socketed Saucer (gobelet et soucoupe enfoncé)

LCSH: Porcelain, French—18th century—Pictorial works | Porcelain, French—Private collections | Porcelain, French—Sèvres—18th century—Slide collections | Sèvres porcelain—18th century—Pictorial works | Slides (Photography)—Private collections | Fritzsche, Ulrich—Art collections—Pictorial works | Ceramic tableware—France—18th century | Drinking cups—France—18th century | Gilding—France—18th century | Decoration and ornament—Plant forms—France—18th century | Flowers in art | Thévenet, Louis-Jean—Pictorial works

Getty AAT keywords: porcelain (material) | porcelain (visual works) | dinnerware | saucers (plates) | cups (drinking vessels) | porcelain painting (image-making) | gilding-technique | flower (motif) | floral patterns

35mm color slide of a cup and socketed saucer (Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory). This type of saucer is termed “socketed” (enfoncé), because it has a “raised flat flange and deep socketed center” (Savill 1988, 2:674). Several scholars note that this type of cup and saucer, which first appeared in 1759, is often confused with the so-called trembleuse (trembling cup and saucer) in which the saucer has a raised central rim instead of a deep central well. In fact, the trembleuse form was rarely produced at Vincennes or Sèvres. The enfoncé form, on the other hand, was purchased frequently by members of the royal family, and may have been especially designed for Madame de Pompadour when she was ill. One specimen of this form was purchased by Marie Antoinette when she was only 17. It may have been used primarily for milk drinks, but was probably also used for tea and chocolate (Roth and Le Corbeiller 2000, 233–34; Savill 1988, 2:674). The cup and saucer both have a white ground decorated with a dotted pattern and colorful garlands of flowers. The set has a painter’s mark for Louis-Jean Thévenet, also known as Thévenet père (b. 1707–d. after 1778; active 1741 or 1745–1777), who was one of the “most skilled flower-painters” of his era (Eriksen and De Bellaigue 1987, 96; dates from Savill 1988, 3:1071). The number 46 is handwritten on the slide.

Find more details on Thévenet and painters’ marks in the Fritzsche Porcelain Exhibit.

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

Seattle Art Museum Libraries

1772 (date of object)

20th century (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.