Potpourri

Chantilly Porcelain Manufactory

about 1740

Soft-paste porcelain with glaze and enamel, Soft-paste porcelain, Enamel

J. Paul Getty Museum

A white porcelain potpourri vase is adorned with applied floral and foliate motifs in green, blue, and purple. The lid features a central opening and decorative elements. The round vase is of baluster form, having a short straight neck and swollen body that tapers down to a base roughly the same circumference as the opening at the top. It has a low domed lid pierced with five round holes. The body of the vase and top of the lid are each encircled by a single flowering branch molded in high relief with many sections in three dimensions. A limited palette of blue, green, turquoise, iron red, and black enamels has been used to color the branches, an irregular design of drapery swags and tassel ropes around part of the shoulder, and an asymmetrical pattern of small five-petaled flower heads near the base