Inkstand in the form of a pomegranate in a gilt-bronze mount

Chantilly|Villeroy

porcelain ca. 1735, mounts ca. 1740–50 and later · Soft-paste porcelain, gilded bronze · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Before the royal patronage of Sèvres dominated the high-end ceramics market in the second half of the eighteenth century, small factories such as Chantilly, Mennecy, and Villeroy created experimental works that drew upon the Chinese and Japanese forms that inspired Meissen porcelain makers. An example of Rococo design, this vibrant inkstand demonstrates the ways in which French porcelain makers not only sought to recreate Asian porcelain, but catered to the desire for the fantastical and strange. The unusual form of a giant bursting pomegranate next to the gnarled roots of a tree turns a quotidian object like an inkstand into something out of a fairytale.

Artist

Chantilly|Villeroy

Date

porcelain ca. 1735, mounts ca. 1740–50 and later

Medium

Soft-paste porcelain, gilded bronze

Culture

French, Chantilly or Villeroy

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Bequest of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 2019