Imagine the sweet aromas of dried flowers, herbs, and spices wafting from these vessels. Vases of this type are called pots-pourris feuilles de mirte, or à feuillages, in reference to the entwined leaves of myrtle decorating their contours. Myrtle, a plant with aromatic leaves, was an essential ingredient in the potpourri mixtures contained in these vases, which were designed to infuse a room with pleasing scents.
Jean-Claude Duplessis adapted the design of these porcelain vases from silverwork made about ten years earlier. They were produced at the Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory in the 1760s and would have been installed as a set of three—known as a “garniture.” Each of these vases is decorated with scenes of Flemish peasant life adapted from compositions by David Teniers the Younger and François Boucher, a contrast of imagined rustic life with the extravagant luxury of porcelain.
Pot-pourri Feuilles de Mirte or à Feuillages
Jean-Claude Duplessis adapted the shape of this vase from silverworks made some ten years earlier. It is one of three pieces in a set, or garniture, made for display on a chest of drawers, pier table, or mantlepiece. Produced at the factory from 1761 to 1768, vases of this type were called either pots-pourris feuilles de mirte or à feuillages, a reference to the entwined myrtle leaves on the sides and neck of the vases, as well as to their eventual content (myrtle leaves were the essential ingredient in potpourri mixtures of dried flowers, herbs, and spices). The vase is decorated on the front with a Flemish peasant scene in rich polychrome and on the back with a landscape bathed in soft light. These decorative scenes derive in part from engravings made after paintings by David Teniers the Younger and François Boucher. The seated peasants on the front of this vase (the largest) are borrowed from 4ème Fête Flamande, an engraving by Jacques-Philippe Lebas after a painting by Teniers. The painter is unknown.
Possibly Thynne sale, Christie’s, May 18, 1911, Lot 58. Duveen. Frick, 1918.
Sources: Porcelains in The Frick Collection: Oriental and French. Volume VII. New York: The Frick Collection, 1974.
Vignon, Charlotte. The Frick Collection Decorative Arts Handbook. New York: The Frick Collection/Scala, 2015.
