Collectibles

Sevres Porcelain Factory
Pot-pourri Vase
1759
The Royal Collection, London

Soft-paste porcelain, bleu lapis and green ground, overlaid with œil-de-perdrix and gilding
22 1/16 Inches By 15 1/8 Inches By 7 3/4 Inches

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Only twelve pot-pourri vases were produced by the Sevres Porcelain Factory—given their construction, the vases tended to collapse in the kiln—yet they were so prized and protected that ten of the twelve vases survive today.

France retains only one Sevres pot-pourri vase, which resides in the Louvre. The remaining nine are in Britain and the United States.

The most beautiful of the pot-pourri vases is the one now in The Royal Collection. The depth of its two primary colors is what lends it a unique beauty. Oddly, it is the only such vase whose artists are unknown (the painted scene is inspired by David Teniers The Younger).

Madame de Pompadour was the first owner of this particular pot-pourri vase. It was acquired for The Royal Collection by George IV, a great connoisseur of French decorative art. The vase now resides in The Green Room of Buckingham Palace, where it is the most striking object in a room filled with priceless works of art.