Flower Vase

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The cuvette à fleurs Courteille was produced at Sèvres in three sizes, this example being of the third and smallest size. The name refers to Jacques Dominique de Barberi de Courteille (1696-1767), Louis XV's minister in charge of the manufactory. The first example made in the largest size was presented to him in December 1753. The name indicates that vases of this model were for holding flowers-either porcelain flowers or cut flowers. The shape is roughly oval, with bowed, slightly bulbous front and sides and a flat, slightly concave back. It rests on four small scroll feet and has two handles in the form of acanthus leaves that rise from the base of each end, each leaf having a line of imbricated discs along the spine. This model was probably adapted from a design by Jean-Claude Duplessis. The general shape and especially the distinctive scroll feet and handles of the vase are similar to those seen on a drawing of his for a seau à liqueurs probably intended to be made in silver. The second and third sizes of this model were introduced in 1759 along with a number of other flower vases such as the cuvette à tombeau (see cat. 84) and vase à compartiments (see cat. 81) that were also introduced in smaller sizes that same year. The model was popular and still in production in the late 1780s. The smaller sizes were often combined with other shapes, including vases hollandois, vases à fleurs Chantilly, and cuvettes Mahon, to form garnitures.
This vase is among the earliest known examples of this shape in the third size. It is richly decorated with an underglaze blue ground overlaid with a gilded trellis pattern on the central front panel and flanking pilasters. The blue on the back and sides is overlaid with gilding of a combined caillouté and vermiculé pattern with pointillé gilding between the shapes. The vase is further decorated with overglaze green-ground scrolls, borders, and husks edged with gilding. The back of the vase is decorated with a green-ground scroll roundel enclosing an elaborately gilded rosette on a pointillé ground. The feet and handles are edged with gilding and the imbricated discs along the spine of each handle are alternately decorated with blue and green-a particularly elaborate detail.
The painting in the colored reserve was done by Charles-Nicolas Dodin. He painted the same scene in the same year on a vase à compartiments also in the Huntington collection, and the overall execution of the decoration of both vases is of the highest quality. For a discussion of Dodin's treatment of this specific scene, see cat. 81.
It is likely that this vase was originally one of a pair. Another cuvette Courteille decorated in the same manner was made three years later with a "Teniers" scene in the reserve painted by Jean-Louis Morin (see cat. 83). It is conceivable that the latter vase was made to replace a broken or lost original pair to this vase. Both vases are of the same size, use the same decorative vocabulary and have genre scenes in the reserves that can be seen as pendants-a man drinking with a friend on one vase, and an inebriated man being scolded by a woman on the other (for a discussion of such genre scenes see the essay by Colin Bailey in this volume). It is known that Dodin painted the latter scene on at least one other vase, so Morin could have been copying an earlier work by that artist. A pair of vases of the same shape and size and with the same scenes in the reserves was sold in London in 1910. They are unmarked, have a green ground, and are catalogued as "painted probably by Morin, 1760." Whether they are Sèvres porcelain or later copies, these vases were apparently inspired by an earlier pair of vases such as the two cuvettes Courteille now at The Huntington.
The Huntington vase cannot be traced in the sale records. One cuvette Courteille of the first size with green and blue ground colors and a Teniers scene sold for 600 livres in 1759. The following year one cuvette Courteille of the third size with a green ground and Teniers scene sold for 240 livres. It can be assumed that, because of the size and richness of the decoration on the Huntington example, it would have sold for a sum roughly between the cost of those two examples.

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