The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Suite of Vases: Plate 14

1746

Jacques François Saly

(French, 1717–1776)
France, 18th century
etching
Platemark: 19 x 12.7 cm (7 1/2 x 5 in.); Sheet: 30 x 22.6 cm (11 13/16 x 8 7/8 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1996.229.15
Catalogue raisonné: Guilmard 8
Location: 101A Prints & Drawings

Did You Know?

The voluptuous two-tailed mermaid figure in the center of this design may be a nereid. As the undine daughters of Neptune, nereids were often part of Bacchus's entourage in classical mythology.

Description

Jacques François Joseph Saly created an etched suite of 30 imaginary vase designs while studying in Rome. Throughout the series, he let his skill and imagination run wild on the theme of bacchants by inventively incorporating animals, satyrs, and maenads—as well as faces and grotesques (fantastic figures and beasts)—into various designs. Published in Paris, the series nourished an appetite for the revival of mythological and classical elements in decorative arts, and may have also inspired Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s suite of bacchanalia images.
  • ?–1996
    (Paul McCarron & Susan Schulman, New York, NY, sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)
    June 3, 1996–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • In Vino Veritas (In Wine, Truth). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 7, 2025-January 11, 2026).
    Inventive Impressions: 18th- and 19-Century French Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-October 28, 2001).
  • {{cite web|title=Suite of Vases: Plate 14|url=false|author=Jacques François Saly|year=1746|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1996.229.15