The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 21, 2025

Caster (Saupoudreuse)

c. 1732–38
manufacturer

Saint Cloud Porcelain Factory

(French)
France, Saint Cloud, 18th century
soft-paste porcelain, silver mount
Overall: 21.9 cm (8 5/8 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1947.177
Location: 216A French and German

Did You Know?

Prunus branches, which refer to flowering trees and shrubs including plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and almonds, were a common motif in Chinese porcelain.

Description

This cylindrical caster with a removable pierced cover may have held sugar. It likely derives its form from silver casters manufactured pre-1700. Its all-white, molded, prunus branch decorations are characteristic of blanc de chine, the term used in France to reference the highly prized porcelain produced in the southeastern Fujian province of Dehua, China, known for its pure color and high degree of translucence.
  • (Arnold Seligmann, Rey & Co., New York).
  • Foote, Helen S. "French Soft-Paste Porcelain." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 34, no. 10 (December 1947): 249-250. p. 249
    Foote, Helen S. "Soft-Paste Porcelain of France." The Art Quarterly 11 (Autumn 1948). p. 338, 342.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 300 archive.org
    Lahaussois, Christine. Porcelaines de Saint-Cloud. Paris: Union centrale des arts décoratifs, 1997. p. 69-72, 84-87
    Rondot, Bertrand. Discovering the Secrets of Soft-Paste Porcelain at the Saint-Cloud Manufactory, Ca. 1690-1766. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999. p. 168-170, 270-271.
  • The Porcelain Connection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 22-August 15, 1982).
    Chinoiserie: The Chinese Influence. Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, OH (organizer) (October 5-December 2, 1979).
  • {{cite web|title=Caster (Saupoudreuse)|url=false|author=Saint Cloud Porcelain Factory|year=c. 1732–38|access-date=21 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1947.177