De la Bouëxière Ewer

Vincennes Porcelain Factory

1753–55

Painted and glazed porcelain, gilt

Minneapolis Institute of Art

A white porcelain ewer is decorated with a vibrant blue glaze, intricate gold scrollwork, and a delicate floral bouquet with a bird. The handle and spout rim are also accented with gold. This Ewer was originally commissioned on February 19, 1753, by Jean Gaillard de la Bouëxière, the patron of the Grand Salon which surrounds us. But according to the archives, when the ewer was finished in 1755, it was delivered to Madame de Pompadour, who must have been infatuated with this Ewer when she first saw it. With its elegant shape, its refined pictorial decoration of a flower bouquet and a butterfly, its energetic gold hatching and its intensive color fields of white and celestial blue, the De la Bouëxière Ewer epitomizes the artistic essence of the Vincennes porcelain factory at the height of its production, after it had