Covered Bowl (c. 1775): Art, History and Details

Covered Bowl (c. 1775) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Niderviller Factory (French).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This covered bowl is decorated with pieces of paper painted in trompe l’oeil, an effect that gives two-dimensional surfaces the illusion of extending into three-dimensional space, on a faux bois, or fake wood, background. This unique style of decoration was likely invented at Niderviller, but taken up by other European porcelain factories including those at Locré, Vienna, and Tournai.

Object facts

• Title: Covered Bowl
• Date: c. 1775
• Creator attribution: Niderviller Factory (French)
• Culture: France
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: Hard-paste porcelain with enamel and gilt decoration
• Dimensions: Diameter: 9.1 x 8.4 cm (3 9/16 x 3 5/16 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1983.64

A detail from the museum

Established in 1749, the Niderviller porcelain factory remained in operation following the 1789 French Revolution, though its owner, Adame Philippe, count of Custine, was executed in August of 1793.

Collection credit

The Norweb Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Hawley, Henry. "French Ceramics: The Norweb Collection." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 71 (January 1984).

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.