The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 17, 2025

Pair of Potpourri Vases with Covers

c. 1740–60
made by

Saint Cloud Porcelain Factory

(French)
France, Saint Cloud, 18th century
soft-paste porcelain
Overall: 15 cm (5 7/8 in.)
The Norweb Collection 1962.360
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The holes in the base of these vases may have held gilt-bronze flowering stems.

Description

As beautifully designed objects, the function of these vases is not immediately apparent. Created to contain potpourri, a mixture of flowers, herbs, and spices emitting ambient fragrance, their covers are decorated with delicate flowers spaced by small, unobtrusive perforations. The decoration continues onto the body of the container where intricate ribbing emulates a basket weave.
  • Dallot-Naudin, Yvonne, and Alain Jacob. Porcelaines tendres françaises: Rouen, L. Poterat, St-Cloud, Mennecy, Chantilly, Bourg la Reine, Vincennes. Paris: ABC Collection, 1983. p.100-101
    Dupont, Patrick. Porcelaines franc̦aises aux XVIIIe et XIXe siècles. Paris: Les Éditions de l'Illustration, 1987. p. 50, no. 3
    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. 223, no. 169; p. 292
  • Impressionism to Modernism: The Keithley Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 11, 2022-January 8, 2023).
    Year in Review (1963). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 27, 1963-January 5, 1964).
  • {{cite web|title=Pair of Potpourri Vases with Covers|url=false|author=Saint Cloud Porcelain Factory|year=c. 1740–60|access-date=17 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.360