This is one of the two seaux à bouteilles in Madame du Barry’s chinoiserie-decorated service purchased from the Sèvres factory on 31st August 1773.  The service was small and very few pieces are in known collections.

It was created for use at her remarkable early neo-classical pavilion at Louveciennes built by the architect Claude Nicholas Ledoux in 1770-71 in the parkland of her château.  Some of the large paintings by Fragonard now in the Frick Collection, New York, were commissioned by Madame du Barry for this pavilion which also had outstanding furniture and other specially-commissioned contents.