Covered Broth Bowl and Stand (Écuelle ronde et plateau ovale) (1772): Art, History and Details

Covered Broth Bowl and Stand (Écuelle ronde et plateau ovale) (1772) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Sèvres Porcelain Factory (French, est. 1756); François-Joseph Aloncle (French).

The work and its context

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

Birds were collected in all forms during the 18th century following an increased European interest in natural history. The birds on this bowl and stand were painted by François-Joseph Aloncle, one of the Sèvres porcelain factory’s principal bird painters. Small, two handled bowls like this one would hold broths or soups consumed by an individual during the toilette, a ritual of washing and dressing practiced by the 18th-century French elite.

Object facts

• Title: Covered Broth Bowl and Stand (Écuelle ronde et plateau ovale)
• Date: 1772
• Creator attribution: Sèvres Porcelain Factory (French, est. 1756); François-Joseph Aloncle (French)
• Culture: France, Sèvres
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: soft-paste porcelain with enamel and gilt decoration
• Dimensions: Overall: 11.2 x 20.2 cm (4 7/16 x 7 15/16 in.); Part 1: 10.2 x 14.8 cm (4 x 5 13/16 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1986.43

A detail from the museum

Two different colors of gold decorate these objects’ borders, exemplifying more complex forms of gilding introduced in the 1770s.

Collection credit

Bequest of Katherine Holden Thayer

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.