Louis XVI-empress Style Basket In Gilt Bronze And Porcelain With Floral Decor. Circa 1870

Lovely Louis XVI-Empress Style mounted bowl in porcelain with delicate polychrome floral decoration painted on a white or powder blue background with fine flowery strokes framing fishnets with stylized flowers punctuated with medallions of rose seedlings in bud, graceful and lively country garlands (hollyhocks, periwinkles, poppies) arranged in festoons. Enhanced on its profiles with fine gold strips, this exquisitely feminine porcelain piece is encased in a gilded bronze frame adopting the charming and original shape of a wicker basket. Slender, its handle with a ribboned rush motif enclosed in corded rings is grafted onto a nicely chiselled beaded rim and a ribboned braid. Reiterated in the lower part, the latter accommodates a quadripod base - incised with the monogram "EH" - with a leonine claw motif emerging from an acanthus floret flanked by small flowerings of roses and leafy oak branches. Pleated ribbon bows complete the gilded bronze adornment of this elegant Cup bearing, on the reverse of its base, the apocryphal mark painted in blue with an intertwined double "L" inscribing a point, - a mark corresponding to the porcelain productions of the Vincennes Manufacture -Sèvres between 1753-1756. Parisian work in Louis XVI-Empress style from the second half of the 19th century. Circa 1870 ------------------ The 18th century rediscovered. Adopting the shape of a country basket as displayed by the Favorites or Powdered Sovereigns of Yesteryear playing, the time of a walk in the Gardens of Versailles or Trianon, at Les Bergères (Me de Pompadour, Me Du Barry) or to the Milkmaids (Marie-Antoinette) and, in their wake, the idle Elegants of the Second Empire herbalizing during their bucolic vacations, this mounted Cup is deliciously adorned on its porcelain body with coquettish flowers. Flowers, roses in bud mixed with lively periwinkles, small poppies unfold, embellish, festoon in mesh, in seedlings or medallions, in garlands the edges, the perimeter of the receptacle. Emblematic of spring sweets, this delightful floral decoration with tones that are alternately sweet and lively stand out against a luminous white background subtly alternating with bands dressed in powder blue. Inspired by the charming compositions decorated with floral garlands, ribbons crimping rose seedlings or gold-touched barbels promoted by the Vincennes-Sèvres Manufacture in the 1750s, this delicate porcelain decoration is embellished with an elegant bronze frame gilded with Louis XVI silhouette and ornamental motifs. Reviving the enchanting and refined world of the 18th century, this Decorative Cup which can form a Vase or Jardiniere undoubtedly emerges from the so-called Louis XVI-Empress Style which emerged in French decorative arts around 1867. Ample and slender shape, ornamental preciousness with a charming country note, finesse of execution are the attractive attributes and assets of this porcelain creation from the second half of the 19th century. Endowed with exquisite femininity and great originality, it summons the ingenuous opinion of a critic of the time appreciating these "luxurious objects of fantasy in the taste of the 18th century" provided with a similar "refinement of coquetry" He added: "How can we resist so many seductions and, isn't that what we call an Artistic New Year?" ----------------- Parisian work in Louis XVI-Empress style from the second half of the 19th century. Napoleon III period, circa 1867. Dimensions: H. with handle: 43 cm; receptacle: 16 cm; - L.: 20 cm; - base: 17x17 cm. Materials: porcelain with polychrome floral decoration on a white or Pompadour blue background; gold highlights; gilded bronze. Beautiful state of conservation.