"Hébert" Potpourri Vase
Form designed by Jean-Claude Duplessis/ Decoration after Jean-Jacques Bachelier1757
Height: 28cm
Sèvres – Cité de la Céramique
Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (Sèvres, Cité de la céramique) / Martine Beck-Coppola / distributed by AMF
Potpourri vases were designed to hold a mixture of dried flowers and spices which perfumed the rooms. They were indispensable accessories for bedrooms and bathrooms particularly in the 18th century. This vase, designed by Jean-Claude Duplessis in 1756, remained in production until the end of the 1760s. Supported by a stemmed round foot, this vase originally accompanied a lid with petal-shaped openwork decoration. Green was used as the ground color for the first time in 1753, when the factory was still located in Vincennes. Only a year later, in 1754, polychrome decorations of children, birds and flowers were added to the green ground. This vase is decorated with parrots and other exotic birds painted in the style of Jean-Jacques Bachelier. Such motifs suggest the high interest on natural history and enthusiasm on rare animals prevailed in the court, particularly that of Madame de Pompadour.