The potpourri vase at the center of this three-piece set of porcelain is one of only a few objects of this kind in the world. It was created at the royal porcelain manufactory in Sèvres, a village west of Paris. This detailed and fanciful object in the shape of a ship rests on scrolled porcelain feet and sits on a gilded bronze base. The round bottom represents the ship’s hull. On each end, a projecting spar emerges from the mouth of a mysterious face. The openwork lid represents the ship’s sails. Atop the mast, a glorious white pennant covered with gold fleur-de-lis flutters in a suggested wind. The overall design, in green and blue, is highlighted in gold.
For all its whimsical imagery, this piece had a practical use. It was meant to hold potpourri—a mix of spices and floral petals, whose fragrance, diffusing through the perforated lid, would perfume an entire room.
The inventive design for this potpourri was created in 1757 by Jean-Claude Duplessis, the director of the Sèvres manufactory. This example is from 1759, the year Madame de Pompadour, the official mistress of King Louis XV, purchased her first potpourri ship.
By the same designer as the potpourri are the two vases ‘à oreilles’ (literally, with ears) that flank it. Together, these three works were meant to be showcased on a mantel or a piece of furniture, in a grouping that was called a garniture.
Vase à Oreilles (one of a pair)
Probably designed by the silversmith Jean-Claude Duplessis, vases of this type are called à oreilles (with ears) because the foliar scrolls at the neck loop back to the shoulder to form ear-like handles. One of the most successful vase forms produced by Sèvres’s celebrated porcelain manufactory, vases à oreilles were made in five sizes, ranging from about four and a half to fifteen inches. Decorated with birds by Louis-Denis Armand l’aîné, this vase and another in the collection form a pair and were made en suite with the related pot-pourri à vaisseau. A set of pieces, or garniture, was intended to be displayed on a chest of drawers, pier table, or mantlepiece, often in front of a mirror.
J. Auriol. Hon. G. Byng, M. P., Wrotham Park. Alexander Barker. Earl Dudley. Frick, 1916.
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.