The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 1, 2023

Flower Vase

c. 1520–1540

Saint-Porchaire

(French)

France, 16th century

Lead-glazed white-paste earthenware, molded and inlaid slip decoration

Diameter of top: 14.5 cm (5 11/16 in.); Diameter of base: 45.7 x 17.2 cm (18 x 6 3/4 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1950.125

Location

114 Late Northern Renaissance

Description

Made as two separate elements, this extremely rare example of Saint-Porchaire ware may have been conceived primarily as a tour de force of decorative art.

Saint-Porchaire

A French factory certainly active before 1542 and the probable source of a highly individual type of lead-glazed earthenware. These pieces are decorative objects of finely grained off-white paste with intricate inlaid patterns of strapwork made by impressing the clay with metal punches and filling the cavities with clays of contrasting colors, red, yellow and brown; they are covered with a transparent lead glaze.
Provenance
Col. Colville. Baron Anthony de Rothschild, London.
Citations
Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisitions Press Release,” June 20, 1951, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 242 archive.org
Cleveland Museum of Art, and Jenifer Neils. The World of Ceramics: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Museum in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1982. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 51, fig. 53
Exhibition history

35th Anniversary Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 20-September 30, 1951).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1950.125