Description Decorated around the exterior with floral sprays and seed pods flanking cartouches enclosing a carp-like fish swimming above weeds. a) Of cylindrical shape with a domed cover and knob. b) With deep rounded sides the interior and the base decoated with a flower. (2) The service is known as the "A la Pompadour" service, because of a fish that appears in the vignettes. It was once supposed that it symbolizes Madame de Pompadour, the mistress of the French King Louis XV., as referring to her low-born name "Poisson" (which means fish). However, the reference to her civil origin suggests that the service was not commissioned by her and was not connected to her. It does not appear in the posthumous inventory of the Marquise nor in the auction catalogue of her brother and heir, Marquis de Ménars.
Dimensions a) Height 15.3 cm; b) diameter 8.8 cm
Literature Compare a discussion regarding the provenance of the service in David Howard and John Ayers, China for the West, vil. 2, p. 443 and compare a similar decoration in Michel Beurdeley, Porzellan aus China, Compagnie des Indes, Munich 1962, no. 190
Provenance a) Paper label: Bernheimer München 1964 gegr. Bernheimer, Munich, sold at Sotheby's, London (Bernheimer Day Sale), 25.11.2015, lot 218 Private collection, Copenhagen
Notes VAT: Margin scheme
