{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O72446"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O72446/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EL4672/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EL4672/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2010EL4672","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AW2795","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KE1756","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O72446/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O72446","accessionNumber":"750-1882","objectType":"Plant pot","titles":[{"title":"Caisse carrée or caisse à fleurs carrée","type":"manufacturer's title"}],"summaryDescription":"The shape of this flower pot has been copied from larger square terracotta tubs, used since the time of Louis XIV for growing orange trees in the gardens of Versailles in warm weather.  They would have been portable so that the delicate trees could be brought inside during the winter.  These costly small-scale porcelain versions would have been planted with bulbs or other flowers, and used on the dining table as part of a table setting.  They originally would have had shallow square stands to catch water draining from the holes pierced in their bases, but none of these are known to have survived today.\n\nA drawing of the shape is recorded in the archives of the Vincennes factory in 1752, but as the earliest moulds date from 1753, the first examples probably date from that year.  They seem to have been popular for about a decade, and this example (one of a pair) has typically rich decoration comprising a deep blue<i> bleu lapis </i>ground colour and gilded ornament. Although they do not have a date letter as part of their marks on their bases (as sometimes is the case), they must be early examples, as the blue ground has 'bled' slightly around the upper edges of the white reserves.  This was seen as a defect at this time and the gilder has tried to conceal it with his marvelously ornate rococo style frames to the reserves that include shell-like forms, trailing fronds, trellises and scrolls.  He has even tried to conceal a firing crack in the rim of one of the pots with a gilded tree branch reaching up from the main gilded frame to the cartouche.  \n\nJoanna Gwilt (Vincennes and Early Sèvres Porcelain in the Belvedere Collection, V &amp; A Publishing, 2014) discusses the sources for the decoration of Vincennes porcelain in her introductory essay 'The production of Vincennes and early Sèvres soft-paste porcelain'.  Her analysis of the factory's first annual inventory of 1st October 1752 reveals that there were many drawings, prints and sketches of birds in the factory's collection by various artists, including Jean-Jacques Bachelier (the factory's artistic director) and Jean-Baptiste-Etienne Genest (head of the painters' workshop). These would have been copied by the painters and gilders.  Gilding at Vincennes is never flat but full of lively detail created by finely chiselling the surface and edges with pointed steel tools.  This work is reminiscent of that on the raised surfaces of exquisite gold snuff boxes of the same period.","physicalDescription":"One of a pair of plant pots, 'caisse carrée' or 'caisse à fleurs carrée' of the third size, made from soft-paste porcelain, square in form on four square feet, the upper corners with cone-shaped finial. Apart from the finials and a cartouche on each side, the surface is decorated with a <i>bleu lapis</i> dark blue ground and tooled gilding. The cartouches are framed by gilt scrolls, reeds, floral wreaths and smaller cartouches containing trellis ornament. The gilding in the cartouches shows birds in flight and in a landscape, baskets of flowers, trees and fountains, and trailing flowers. The edges of the pots and the finials are also gilded.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Sèvres porcelain factory","id":"A406"},"association":{"text":"manufacturer","id":"x33306"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Vincennes porcelain factory","id":"A11271"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28674"},"note":"the Vincennes factory moved to Sèvres in 1756"}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"soft paste porcelain","id":"AAT10665"}],"techniques":[{"text":"glazed","id":"AAT53914"},{"text":"gilded","id":"AAT53789"},{"text":"fired","id":"AAT53887"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Soft-paste porcelain with coloured enamel ground and tooled gilding","categories":[{"text":"Images Online","id":"THES48937"},{"text":"Porcelain","id":"THES48907"},{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"},{"text":"Containers","id":"THES48972"},{"text":"Gardens & Gardening","id":"THES49002"},{"text":"Vases","id":"THES48879"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2010EL4672","2006AW2795","2017KE1756"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"3","id":"THES263060"},"free":"","case":"CA3","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Plant pot","id":"x43757"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Sèvres","id":"x29522"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""},{"place":{"text":"Vincennes","id":"THES254082"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"c.1753-1758","earliest":"1748-01-01","latest":"1758-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"750A-1882","id":"O72448"},"association":"Pair"}],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by John Jones","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"18.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"5/07/12","earliest":"2012-07-05","latest":"2012-07-05"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"12.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"5/07/12","earliest":"2012-07-05","latest":"2012-07-05"},"part":"maximum","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"12.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"5/07/12","earliest":"2012-07-05","latest":"2012-07-05"},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"M","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.  This mark was recorded at Vincennes by 1751.  (see J. Gwilt reference)"},{"content":"3","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":"John Jones Bequest, Cat. no. 137.\n\nThe gilder Etienne-Henry Le Guay is recorded at the factory 1742-97.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Plant pot made from soft-paste porcelain, with a <i>bleu lapis</i> ground and gilded decoration, made by Vincennes-Sèvres porcelain factory, France, c.1753-1758.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Gwilt, Joanna.  <u>Vincennes and Early Sèvres Porcelain from the Belvedere Collection</u>.  London, V & A Publishing, 2013.  See catalogue 113 for an <i>urne Pompadour</i>, c. 1753/4, with a similar ground of<i> bleu lapis</i> reserved with gilded birds edged with floral swags."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Aileen Dawson, <u>French Porcelain, A Catalogue of The British Museum Collection</u>. British Museum Press, 1994.  See catalogue 83- 85, pp. 91-95 for two individual examples and a pair.  'Although Svend Eriksen noted a drawing for caisses carrés in the factory stock lists of 1752, moulds for the form only appear in the factory records in January 1754, so that it must have been devised in 1753.  However, moulds for the first and third sizes are not recorded until 1755.'\n"}],"production":"The gilding is probably by É.-H. Le Guay (information: David Peters July 1999)","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"bird","id":"x35043"},{"text":"scroll","id":"x44680"},{"text":"flowers","id":"x35571"},{"text":"trees","id":"AAT132410"},{"text":"branches","id":"x39097"},{"text":"baskets","id":"AAT194498"},{"text":"trellises","id":"AAT6785"},{"text":"fountains","id":"AAT6179"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Gallery 128 Decant 2003\n\nThe tub was intended for living plants. It is known that trays were made to go underneath the tubs, but no example has been found.","date":{"text":"07/06/2004","earliest":"2004-06-07","latest":"2004-06-07"}}],"partNumbers":["750-1882"],"accessionNumberNum":"750","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1882,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN6537","2019LU0832"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-12","recordCreationDate":"2003-01-03","availableToBook":false}}