Potpourri Vase with Cover (c. 1750): Art, History and Details

Potpourri Vase with Cover (c. 1750) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Mennecy Factory (French).

The work and its context

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

The delicate flowers that cover the lid and base of this vase draw inspiration from the schneeballblüten, or guelder rose, pattern produced at the German Meissen porcelain factory. The flowers on the lid are spaced by small, unobtrusive perforations that allow the scent of the potpourri, a mixture of flowers, herbs, and spices placed inside this vase, to disperse.

Object facts

• Title: Potpourri Vase with Cover
• Date: c. 1750
• Creator attribution: Mennecy Factory (French)
• Culture: France, Vincennes
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: soft-paste porcelain
• Dimensions: Overall: 17.2 x 15.9 x 10.5 cm (6 3/4 x 6 1/4 x 4 1/8 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1966.233

A detail from the museum

This style of potpourri vase, a pot atop a rockwork base, was popularly produced by major 18th-century porcelain factories including those at Vincennes, Chantilly, and Saint-Cloud.

Collection credit

The Norweb Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Chaffers, William, and H. M. Cundall. The New Keramic Gallery. London: Reeves and Turner, 1926.
• Freǵnac, Claude. Les Porcelainiers du XVIIIe siècle franca̧is. Paris: Hachette, 1964.
• Emerson, Julie, Paul Macapia, and Pamela Meidell. The Collectors, Early European Ceramics and Silver. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1982.

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.