Sèvres style porcelain and gilt bronze centrepiece bowl

Sèvres style porcelain and gilt bronze centrepiece bowl
French, late 19th Century
Height 38cm, width 54cm, depth 24cm
 
This exquisite centrepiece bowl was created in the late 19th Century in an 18th-Century Rococo style popularised by the Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory.
 
The centrepiece is composed of a porcelain bowl, with a wide body set on a slim flared foot. This is mounted with a gilt bronze (ormolu) mouth, which is ornately decorated with scrollwork, cartouches and stylised acanthus leaves. The mouth is fitted with two gilt bronze leafy C-scroll handles which continue down the length of the body. The porcelain bowl is painted a bright ‘bleu celeste’ (sky blue) colour. It is finely decorated with a group of cherubs on its front and a flower bouquet on its reverse. These scenes are contained within gilt oval, wreath-like frames. The porcelain centrepiece is set on a gilt bronze base which is made up of a cartouche, decorative mouldings, curling acanthus leaves and scrollwork.