Basin

Barthélemy Samson

1771 · Silver · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

This silver basin and its accompanying ewer (22.32.2) were made in Toulouse in 1771 and may have been part of a dressing table set or were independent pieces. Used for the daily grooming in the bedroom, the silver toilet set evolved into one of the most fashionable luxury accessories and was an eloquent symbol of the owner’s social status. These pieces demonstrate the especially adept and exuberant interpretation of Rococo ornament by the silversmiths of Toulouse, a center of goldsmithing in eighteenth-century France. The maker was Barthélemy Samson, one of the most prominent and successful craftsmen of the city. Parisian gold and silversmiths were by this time already experimenting with the classical vocabulary. By the 1770’s, ewer and basins sets were generally made of porcelain or other ceramic materials. This ewer and basin demonstrate that sets in silver were still being produced often for wedding presents, and that luxury objects such as this ewer and basin were not exclusively made in Paris but also in provincial towns.

Artist

Barthélemy Samson

Date

1771

Medium

Silver

Culture

French, Toulouse

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Bequest of William Mitchell, 1921