{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O100096"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O100096/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CB6518/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CB6518/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2009CB6518","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O100096/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O100096","accessionNumber":"C.119&A-1922","objectType":"Bowl and cover","titles":[{"title":"Ecuelle ronde","type":"manufacturer's title"}],"summaryDescription":"Small low, covered bowls with matching stands like this were used for serving soups, bouillon and other similar foodstuffs  in private apartments at breakfast, through the long hours of the toilette and to ill or disabled people in bed. In France such a tureen  would be called an '<i>écuelle</i>' and in German it was sometimes called a '<i>Wöchnerinnterrine</i>' or 'maternity tureen'. However,  while they certainly were used to serve restorative foods to women after childbirth, they were much more widely used by both women and men. Some (but not this one) have covers fitted with feet,  enabling this part to be reversed to serve  as a plate for dealing  with meat or marrow bones. They were not made as part of a dinner service, but were a standard  component of toilet services.  Being made for personal use, they were usually finely decorated.  They were made in porcelain, silver and other materials.\r\n\r\nThe Vincennes/Sèvres factory made a variety of <i>écuelle</i> shapes from 1752 onwards, however this tureen and cover is very unusual as it was intended to commemorate the birth of a special baby, the Dauphin, as the heir to the French throne was always called.  Queen Marie-Antoinette gave birth to her first son, Louis Joseph on 22nd October 1781, and the dolphin symbol of the Dauphin can be found on the handles of both the bowl and its stand, and a royal crown, itself with four dolphins supporting the royal symbol of the <i>fleur de lys</i>, forms the handle of the cover.  Sadly the  Dauphin died aged only seven in 1789.\n\nGeoffrey de Bellaigue (see below) has written about the range of special items made by the Sèvres factory at this time. In anticipation of the birth, in September 1781 Jean-Jacques Bachelier, the head of the painter's workshop, was asked to design allegories and symbols appropriate to the long-awaited birth of a royal heir:  'During the period 20 Nov 1781-25 March 1782 a range of cups and a few broth-basins were fired in the enamel-kiln which were painted with dolphins,<i> fleurs-de-lis</i> and allegorical subjects, no doubt based on Bachelier's sketches'.  As well as this <i>ecuelle</i>, there is a cup and saucer with similar decoration in the museum's collection, number 786-1882.  These rare items with their special decoration do not appear in the factory's sales records, suggesting they were extraordinary productions, possibly commissioned directly by the crown.  It's conceivable that cups and saucers were presented by the King to important courtiers and diplomatic allies to celebrate the Dauphin's birth, but the ultimate consumer of the broth bowls is an interesting point of conjecture.  They may well have been intended for the use of Queen Marie-Antoinette herself.\n\nThis example has the mark of François Antoine Pfeiffer, a painter who worked at Sèvres from 1771-1800.  He specialised in flowers and patterns and would have been responsible for the finely painted borders of flowers and laurel swags.\n\nSvend Eriksen &amp; Geoffrey de Bellaigue.  <u>Sèvres Porcelain</u>. London, Faber and Faber, 1987","physicalDescription":"Bowl and cover of soft-paste porcelain painted in enamels and gilded, the two handles of the bowl in the form of dolphins, the knop on the cover in the form of a crown surmounted by four dolphins supporting a fleur de lys. Rim hole.  The borders painted in enamel colours with flowers and laurel swags intertwined with gilded scrollwork.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"François-Antoine Pfeiffer","id":"AUTH326017"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x28695"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Sèvres porcelain factory","id":"A406"},"association":{"text":"manufacturer","id":"x33306"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"porcelain","id":"AAT10662"}],"techniques":[{"text":"gilding","id":"AAT53789"},{"text":"painting (image-making)","id":"AAT54216"},{"text":"enamelling","id":"AAT53773"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Porcelain, painted in enamels and gilt","categories":[{"text":"Porcelain","id":"THES48907"},{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2009CB6518"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"NTHC","id":"THES49551"},"free":"","case":"SR001","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"NTHC","id":"THES49551"},"free":"","case":"SR001","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"bowl body","id":""}],[{"text":"bowl cover","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"France","id":"x28849"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1781","earliest":"1781-01-01","latest":"1781-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"786-1882","id":"O99197"},"association":"Depiction"},{"object":{"text":"751-1882","id":"O70845"},"association":"Object"}],"creditLine":"Given by Mrs Herbert Allen (Maude Louise Allen)","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"125","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"26.09.12","earliest":"2012-09-26","latest":"2012-09-26"},"part":"bowl with lid, on stand","note":""},{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"12.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"17.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"maximum","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Interlaced 'L's in blue enamel","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":"A8728"},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Maker's mark"},{"content":"'f' in blue enamel for Pfeiffer","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":"A8728"},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Painter's mark"},{"content":"da","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":"A8728"},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"incised"}],"objectHistory":"Louis Joseph, Dauphin de France was born on 22 October, 1781 and died, aged 7, 8th June 1789.\r\n\r\nAccording to Savill (see below) covered bowls were for broths or soups.  They were not used at the dinner table, where plate-like soup bowls were favoured, but in the bedroom or boudoir where they could be used to serve food during the lengthy<i> toilette</i>.  Their shape evolved from a medieval wooden bowl which by the 14th century could be made of gold or silver for high status people.  They were also made in faience, pewter and occasionally rock crystal.  A variety of shapes were made at Sèvres and most were introduced already at Vincennes.  \n\nAccording to Geoffrey de Bellaigue (see below): 'During the period 20 November 1781 to 25 March 1782 a range of cups and a few broth-basins were fired in the enamel-kiln which were painted with dolphins, fleurs-de-lis and allegorical subjects, no doubt based on Bachelier's sketches.  One such cup, a <i>gobelet litron</i> of the largest size, is illustrated in Colour Plate O.  It bears the date-letters for 1781 and the mark of the artist, L.-F. Lécot.  The cup is painted with a banderole bearing the legend, '<i>Le Voeu de la France</i>', and the date, 22 October 1781, is inscribed at the foot of the composition. '  This cup and saucer is 786-1882.\n\nFrançois Antoine Pfeiffer worked at Sèvres from 1771-1800.  He specialised in flowers and patterns.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Porcelain bowl and cover, painted in enamels and gilt, made at Sèvres porcelain factory, France, 1781","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Rosalind Savill, The Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Sèvres  Porcelain, 3 vols.  London: Trustees of the Wallace  Collection, 1988. See vol II, pp 642-650 for a discussion of <i>écuelles</i>and <i>plateaux.  </i>See also Vol. I, 65p. for various shapes, '<i>à dauphi</i><i>n</i>' including this ecuelle.\r\n"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Svend Eriksen and Geoffrey de Bellaigue, Sèvres Porcelain, Vincennes and Sèvres  1740-1800 , (London: Faber and Faber, 1987), p. 135 and colour plate O"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"dolphin (animal)","id":"x30140"},{"text":"fleurs-de-lis","id":"AAT9966"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Covered bowl and stand (<i>écuelle</i>)\r\n1781\n\nThis bowl is decorated with dolphins and fleurs-de-lis to commemorate the birth of the Dauphin to Queen Marie-Antoinette and King Louis XVI of France. Bowls of this type were used by women after giving birth. The elaborate painted and moulded decoration suggests the bowl was probably made for presentation to Queen Marie-Antoinette herself.\n\nFrance (Paris)\r\nMade at the Sèvres factory\r\nPainted by François-Antoine Pfeiffer\r\nPorcelain painted in enamels and gilded\r\nGiven by Mrs Herbert Allen (Mrs Maude Louise Allen)","date":{"text":"09/12/2015","earliest":"2015-12-09","latest":"2015-12-09"}},{"text":"Gallery 128 Decant 2003\n\nDecorated with dolphins and fleur-de-lys in allusion to the birth of the Dauphin.","date":{"text":"07/06/2004","earliest":"2004-06-07","latest":"2004-06-07"}}],"partNumbers":["C.119-1922","C.119A-1922"],"accessionNumberNum":"119","accessionNumberPrefix":"C","accessionYear":1922,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","bowl body","bowl cover"],"assets":["2026PN4131","2026PN4130","2019LM9513","2019LN1930","2019LW7042","2019LV9040"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-04-01","recordCreationDate":"2004-06-07","availableToBook":false}}