Images(4)

Pot de Crème

Dateca. 1800

OriginAsia, China, Jingdezhen

MediumHard-paste porcelain

DimensionsOH: 3 5/8"; D: 2 3/8" (at lip); OL: (from tip of handle) 3 1/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2010-11,A&B

DescriptionPorcelain pot de crème; slightly bellied vessel with double handle intertwined and attached to the body with foliated antefixes at the top and bottom, slightly domed lid with gilded berry knop. The lid and top of the vessel both decorated in polychrome enamels with four different border designs popular on Chinese export porcelain in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. Cypher "AT" painted on the body opposite the handle.
Label TextEight different border designs and a monogram of the initials “AT,” or “AF,” decorate this piece, part of a large and elaborate dinner service. The service was long thought to be a merchant’s sample that was either kept in China or shipped to America for display in a china merchant’s shop. From such a sample, customers may have chosen a combination of designs to create their desired service. However, the fact that this pot de crème was part of a large service calls into question its use merely as a sample. The service may have been ordered by mistake, or perhaps it represents an elaborate and creative use of the most popular designs on Chinese porcelain during the turn of the 19th century.
MarkingsPainted with initials "AT" or "AT" in gold
ProvenanceFormerly part of Elinor Gordon's private collection

Exhibition(s)