Sugar Bowl (Sucrier Calabre)

This sugar bowl is named after Pierre Calabre, one of the earliest stockholders in the porcelain manufactory. It was made in 1756, the year the manufactory moved from Vincennes to Sèvres, after a design invented in the early 1750s. The decoration is by Vincent Taillandier (active 1753–1790), who specialized in the painting of flowers on a small scale, among them, the roses, convolvuli, narcissi, cornflowers, and tulips seen here. This expensive type of decoration was favored by Madame de Pompadour, Madame Victoire, fourth daughter of Louis XV, and other important French aristocrats. Such sugar bowls were sold individually or as part of a tea set.

Gift of Miss Helen C. Frick, 1934.

Source: Porcelains in The Frick Collection: Oriental and French. Volume VII. New York: The Frick Collection, 1974.