The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Densely patterned, ceramic ewer with a multi-layer circular base widening into a round body and narrowing to a cylindrical neck. The ewer's mouth faces us, the wavy lip tilting out, a face below. Another person leans over the rim behind, arms wrapping around the edge. Both have open mouths and are the white of the ceramic, which is glazed with intertwining patterns in browns and blue details. More faces and green frogs circle the body.

Ewer

c. 1540–67

Saint-Porchaire

(French)
France, 16th century
lead-glazed, white-paste earthenware with inlaid slip decoration
Overall: 35.6 x 13.7 cm (14 x 5 3/8 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1953.363
Location: 114 Late Northern Renaissance

Did You Know?

The green tree frog was one of the symbols of French King Henri II, indicating that this ewer may have either been made for the king or one of his courtiers.

Description

An example of one of the most extravagant wares of this kind, this ewer is decorated with applied masks and frogs as well as a variety of stamped and inlaid designs. The shape and patterns reflect the metalwork of the time—the final period of this artistic pottery.
  • Lionel de Rothschild.
    Edmund de Rothschild, London. (Rosenberg & Stiebel, Inc., 1953).
  • Foote, Helen S. "Saint-Porchaire Pedestal Dish and Ewer." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 42, no. 2 (February 1955): 23-27.
    Published as: Saint-Porchaire Ewer. Mentioned: pp. 23-7; reproduced: p. 25 25142014
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 102 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 102 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 119 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. 50, fig. 52
    Crepin-Leblond, Thierry. Une orfévrerie de terre: Bernard Palissy et la céramique de Saint-Porchaire. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 1997. Mentioned & reproduced: p. 19, fig. 1 library.clevelandart.org
    May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Mentioned & reproduced: pp.34-5, no. 30; listed p. 117 library.clevelandart.org
    Bidwell, Frederick E., and Leslie Cade. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with New York, NY: Scala Arts Publishers, 2014. Mentioned& reproduced: p. 131 library.clevelandart.org
    Cleland, Elizabeth A. H. and Marjorie E. Wieseman. Renaissance Splendor: Catherine De' Medici's Valois Tapestries. Cleveland, OH; New Haven, CT: Cleveland Museum of Art; Yale University Press, 2018. Reproduced: p. 27, fig. 21 library.clevelandart.org
    Gruber, Alain. "Entrelacs." In L'Art décoratif en Europe. Bruno Pons and Alain Gruber, 21-112. Paris: Citadelles & Mazenod,, 1992. Reproduced: p. 100
    Darras, Gaelle. "Une aiguière de Saint-Porchaire," L'Objet d'Art, no. 426 (July-August 2007). Mentioned & reproduced: p. 22, fig. 1 library.clevelandart.org
  • Renaissance Splendor: Catherine de’ Medici’s Valois Tapestries. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 18, 2018-January 21, 2019).
    No legacy exhibitions.
  • {{cite web|title=Ewer|url=false|author=Saint-Porchaire|year=c. 1540–67|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1953.363