Terms and conditions of use
Covered vase
(c. 1755)
- Medium
- porcelain (soft-paste)
- Measurements
- (a-b) 22.6 × 11.5 × 11.7 cm (overall)
- Place/s of Execution
- Staffordshire, England
- Accession Number
- 2024.347.a-b
- Department
- International Decorative Arts
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Patricia Begg OAM Bequest, 2024
© Public Domain - Gallery location
- Not on display
- About this work
-
This covered vase is ornamented with a profusion of individually modelled flowers representing a variety of plants, which have been applied over the body and encrusted into a mound over the cover. Completely unrelated to this ornament is the form of the vase, which exemplifies the manner in which scrolling Rococo ornament could encompass the entire form of an object. The vase is effectively a three-dimensional realisation of a Rococo cartouche, a flat ornament often encountered in architecture. The reserves on the front and back of the vase are jarringly decorated with conventional birds and landscapes, imagery that is at odds with the fluid, organic conception of the vase shape, not to mention the applied floral ornament, a feature often encountered in English Rococo design.