Possibly a Model for a Ceramic Vessel

Unknown

about 1725–1730

Terracotta

J. Paul Getty Museum

A terracotta vessel is decorated with grotesque faces and ornate scrollwork. The object has a wide opening at the top and rests on a decorative base. Eighteenth-century craftsmen frequently produced models in terracotta, wood, or other materials before they created the actual object, although few such models survive today. The name of the sculptor of this rare vase model is unknown, but the vase was probably designed to be made in silver for Louis-Henri, duc de Bourbon, prince de Condé. The vase's front features the prince's coat of arms surrounded by the various collars and orders associated with his rank, while his monogram LH is on the back. The sculptor may have made this terracotta model after a design by Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier, the leading originator of the Rococo style.