Cup and Saucer (Gobelet et soucoupe enfoncée) (1767): Art, History and Details

Cup and Saucer (Gobelet et soucoupe enfoncée) (1767) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Sèvres Porcelain Factory (French, est. 1756); Nicolas Bulidon (French).

The work and its context

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

Madame de Pompadour, great patron of Sèvres porcelain and official mistress of Louis XV, was the first to purchase a cup and saucer of this design in 1762. In the late 1760s and 1770s, this design was purchased primarily by members of the royal family or court including Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, the countess of Choiseul, and Madame du Barry.

Object facts

• Title: Cup and Saucer (Gobelet et soucoupe enfoncée)
• Date: 1767
• Creator attribution: Sèvres Porcelain Factory (French, est. 1756); Nicolas Bulidon (French)
• Culture: France, Sèvres
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: Soft-paste porcelain with enamel and gilt decoration
• Dimensions: Overall: 8.6 cm (3 3/8 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1964.521

A detail from the museum

This cup’s socketed saucer would have helped a user keep a drink steady.

Collection credit

The Norweb Collection

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.