{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O99154"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O99154/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CB6572/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CB6572/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2009CB6572","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KE1804","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O99154/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O99154","accessionNumber":"759-1882","objectType":"Ewer and cover","titles":[{"title":"pot à l'eau tourné","type":"manufacturer's title"}],"summaryDescription":"In the 18th century, large jugs or ewers were used with matching basins during the<i> </i>toilette, never at the dining table.  They would have been  displayed on a wealthy lady's dressing table and used for washing during the process of dressing, hairdressing and applying make-up.  Food was  often consumed during this lengthy procedure, making hand washing even more necessary.  Ewers and basins were also used in the garde-robe which, for the wealthy in the mid 1700s, was used in the same way as we use a plumbed-in bathroom today.  Royal garde-robes or <i>cabinets de toilett</i><i>e</i> were comfortably furnished and often had painted wood panelling and matching accessories such as useful porcelain items.\r\n\r\nRosalind Savill, in her catalogue of Sèvres porcelain in The Wallace Collection (see below), lists the many different items the Sèvres factory made for the toilette:  foot-washing bowls, mouth-rinsing bowls, spittoons, bidets, barber's basins, chamber pots, eye-baths, sponge and soap boxes as well as pots for make-up and  brush handles for different kinds of powder.\n\nThe Vincennes factory had a connection to the French crown from its inception as it was established in 1740 in the semi-abandoned royal fortress of  the château de Vincennes to the east of Paris.  There, a handful of porcelain specialists were inspired to start experimenting with porcelain as huge prices were paid by wealthy aristocrats for this glassy white substance which had for the most part to be imported from East Asia or the Meissen factory in what is now Germany.  It was the Saxon ruler Augustus the Strong who had led the drive in Europe to emulate Chinese porcelains and his factory was established in about 1710. During the early 1740s the majority of the Vincennes factory's products were probably experimental as the porcelain body was still being perfected and different enamel colours were being invented.  In 1745 however, they secured a royal 'privilège' which granted them the exclusive right to produce porcelain in Meissen style in France.  By the late 1740s their products were already accomplished with a  wide range of enamel colours in use, followed from 1748 by gilding and ground colours from 1752 onwards. The factory moved to Sèvres to the south-west of Paris in 1756. \n\nThis exquisite ewer and basin are decorated with the special turquoise colour inspired by Chinese porcelains and called <i>bleu celeste</i> at the factory.  It was invented and used for the first service Vincennes made, ordered by the King in 1753, probably the same year as these items were made.  They bear the crossed Ls of the royal cipher which was adopted as the factory mark around this time, together with the mark of the painter François Binet.\n\nSavill, Rosalind.  &lt;u&gt;The Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Sèvres  Porcelain&lt;/u&gt;, Volume II.  London: Trustees of the Wallace  Collection, 1988","physicalDescription":"Jug, soft-paste porcelain, pear shaped, spout, hinged metal mount on lid, decorated with floral patterns painted in enamels, and gilded on a bleu celeste ground.  Lid without knop.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Vincennes porcelain factory","id":"A11271"},"association":{"text":"manufacturer","id":"x33306"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"soft paste porcelain","id":"AAT10665"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painted","id":"AAT54216"},{"text":"glazed","id":"AAT53914"},{"text":"gilt","id":"AAT53789"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Soft-paste porcelain, painted in enamels and gilt","categories":[{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"},{"text":"Porcelain","id":"THES48907"},{"text":"Figures & Decorative ceramics","id":"THES48954"},{"text":"Containers","id":"THES48972"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2009CB6572","2017KE1804"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"139","id":"THES49874"},"free":"","case":"U","shelf":"4","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Jug","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"France","id":"x28849"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1753","earliest":"1748-01-01","latest":"1757-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"759A-1882","id":"O99155"},"association":"Set"}],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by John Jones","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"17.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"12","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"15","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"maximum","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Interlaced 'L's","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, in blue enamel"},{"content":"a dot over 'T' (?)","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, in blue enamel for  François Binet"},{"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, Cat. no. 161.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Pear-shaped ewer with cover, porcelain, decorated with floral patterns painted in enamels, Vincennes porcelain factory, France, about 1753-1754","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"William King, Catalogue of the Jones Collection, II, Ceramics, ormolu, goldsmiths' work, enamels, sculpture, tapestry, books, and prints  (London: Victoria and  Albert Museum, 1924), p. 23, no. 161"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Savill, Rosalind.  <u>The Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Sèvres  Porcelain</u>, 3 vols.  London: Trustees of the Wallace  Collection, 1988.  See Vol. II, pp. 691-718 for a discussion of the different types of jugs and basins produced at Vincennes/Sèvres included in the Wallace Collection.  759&amp;A-1882 are identified by Savill as the jug shape <i>pot à l'eau tourné</i> of the first size, cited 713p. note 30c and basin<i> jatte 'ovale de pot à l'eau'</i>, 699p. Discussing examples of surviving sets of the first size: 'This size is also represented by examples in the Jones Collection (with a turquoise-blue ground with flowers, probably one of those bought by Duvaux in 1753 or 1754)...' and 713p. note 30c."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"floral patterns","id":"AAT10135"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["759-1882"],"accessionNumberNum":"759","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1882,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-12","recordCreationDate":"2004-06-07","availableToBook":false}}