Antique French Art Nouveau Porcelain Ewer with Floral Decoration

18224: Antique French Art Nouveau Porcelain Ewer with Floral Decoration
French, early 20th century
Height: 24cm, diameter 10cm

This charming porcelain ewer is a pleasing example of French decorative porcelain, hand-painted with roses and blossoms on a graduated blush pink ground and enriched with gilt foliate scrollwork. Softly coloured and finely gilded, the piece is conceived in the Rococo taste as an ornamental cabinet vessel.
The ewer is of slender baluster form, raised on a spreading circular foot and rising to a tall tapering neck with a scalloped pouring spout and a scrolling gilt handle. The blush pink ground graduates gently to ivory towards the lower body and neck, in the manner of the blush ivory wares popular in this period. The body is painted with carefully observed roses and blossoms in shades of pink, crimson and white, framed by raised gilt foliate scrolls and trailing floral sprays, with further gilt enrichment to the neck, foot, spout and handle. The soft enamelwork and finely applied gilding lend the piece a sumptuous quality well suited to its poised silhouette.
The underside bears a printed green factory mark reading "MTR France", together with the hand-painted model number 4165 and a painter's mark in red.
Porcelain of this type, combining softly graduated enamel grounds, hand-painted floral ornament and finely applied gilding, was produced in quantity in France during the late 19th and early 20th centuries for both domestic and export markets. Decorative ewers of this form, descended from earlier ceremonial vessels for the table and toilet, were made chiefly as ornamental pieces for the drawing room cabinet or mantelpiece, prized for their tender palette and refinement of finish.
Neatly potted and appealingly decorated, the ewer would sit comfortably among a group of decorative porcelain or as a single accent within a period interior.
$825