Page 95 - Mounted Oriental Porcelain Getty Museum
P. 95
FIG. i6A
Another pair of celadon shells with a slightly vary- Other types of Japanese ceramic shells were popu-
ing description is listed in the catalogue of the sale of the lar. A single mounted shell is listed in the inventory taken
marchand Julliot, held after the death of his wife on in 1740 after the death of the due de Bourbon: "Une vase
November 20, 1777: de forme de coquille, de porcelaine ancienne du Jap on,
monture en bronze dore."8 Chinese shells of the Kangxi
No. 331 Deux coquilles, de genre singulier a rebord period, in the form of cockle shells were also mounted
colorie d'un beau fond rouge, nuance de bleu celeste
fonce; garnies de couvercle, en feuille de corail, perce a with gilt bronze. A turquoise glazed pair is to be seen in
jour & de trois petits pieds en rocaille de bronze dore.7 the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.9 This latter form was
This is the only description that includes the words used by the Vincennes Manufactory as the inspiration for
. . . en feuille de corail, perce a jour. . . ," which
its potpourri lima$on, the plaster model for which
accurately describes the lids of the Museum's shells appeared in 1752. A pair in bleu celeste is in the Forsyth
and may therefore be the only eighteenth-century refer- Wickes Collection in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.10
ence to them.
82, P A I R O F P O T P O U R R I B O W L S
