Soft-paste porcelain ewer, painted in enamels and gilt, made by Sèvres porcelain factory, France, 1758

Soft-paste porcelain ewer, of bulbous shape with moulding resembling leaves or lapping water, loop handle with leaf terminal. Decorated with puce monochrome floral sprays and garlands on a white ground.

According to David Peters, Sioux l'aîné specialised in painting monochrome flowers, patterns and feathered edges. He worked at the factory from 1752-92.

This shape is sometimes called 'broc Roussel a reliefs', however Rosalind's Savill in her analysis of the broc 'Roussel' shape (see below, vol. 2, p. 697) states: 'A more stocky jug, usually with wave-like moulding, is sometimes called a broc Roussel, but a drawing in the Sèvres Archive dated 19th February, 1753 shows that it is the pot 'a l'eau la Boissière'.' This description matches this shape, when compared to the broc Roussel (see the Wallace Collection, vol II, C452, p. 707). The waves of lapping water or possibly leaves moulded into the body of the jug are also found in a more pronounced form on the broc et jatte feuille d'eauwhich first appear in the records in 1756. Charles-François Grillard de La Boissière was a shareholder at Vincennes-Sèvres.

En camaïeu rose decoration is found particularly in the 1750s. According to Geoffrey de Bellaigue (see below) monochrome decoration was practised at Sèvres throughout the 18th century. The 1760s and early 70s was a period when trails of blue were particularly in favour.

In the 18th century, large jugs or ewers were used with matching basins during the toilette, never at the dining table. They would have been displayed on a wealthy lady's dressing table and used for washing during the process of dressing, hairdressing and applying make-up. Food was often consumed during this lengthy procedure, making hand washing even more necessary. Ewers and basins were also used in the garde-robe which, for the wealthy in the mid 1700s, was used in the same way as we use a plumbed-in bathroom today. Royal garde-robes or cabinets de toilette were comfortably furnished and often had painted wood panelling and matching accessories such as useful porcelain items.

Rosalind Savill, in her catalogue of Sèvres porcelain in The Wallace Collection, lists the many different items the Sèvres factory made for the toilette: foot-washing bowls, mouth-rinsing bowls, spittoons, bidets, barber's basins, chamber pots, eye-baths, sponge and soap boxes as well as pots and brush handles for make-up and different kinds of powder.

CIRC.126-1937