An Immensely Rare French 18th Century Soft-Paste Sèvres Porcelain Flower Vase, 1762
The design of this shape is attributed to Jean-Claude Duplessis père; it was made at Vincennes from 1754. Only four very differently-decorated examples are in known collections – this, and one each in the British Royal Collection, The Wallace Collection and in the Cholmondeley Collection, Houghton Hall, UK.
In the 19th century a lid and base were made to match this vase so that it would appear to be a pot pourri en vaisseau (called generally since the 19th century a ‘vaisseau à mât‘).
This example was sold in 1763 by the factory with a pair of matching smaller vases.