Square Fruit Dish (Part of a Dessert Service)

This dish belonged to a much larger dessert service that has been dispersed (including two additional plates in The Frick Collection, not exhibited). Neither its original size (possibly as many as a hundred pieces) nor its original owner is known today. The plates and dishes were made and decorated in 1782. The turquoise blue ribbon and the white band with gold rosettes were added later, probably in the nineteenth century. The flowers vary from piece to piece, but all include roses, anemones, poppies, ranunculi, bellflowers, asters, delphiniums, convolvuli, carnations, and tulips in various combinations and colors. Several painters specializing in flowers were involved in the decoration of the service, including Edmé-François Bouilliat (act. 1758−1810), Marie-Claude-Sophie Xhrouet (act. 1772−88), and Jean-Baptiste Tandart (act. 1754−1800), each of whom signed one or two of the pieces shown here. Fruit dishes (compotiers) were used as part of a dessert service, especially intended for dried, fresh, or caramelized fruits. Dessert services often included a tea service similar to the one presented in this exhibition.

Mrs. Algernon Elwes, Staple Grove, Beckenham, Kent, and Oxton Hall, Nottinghamshire. Duveen. Frick, 1918.

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