Covered Tureen on Stand (Pot-à-oille)
Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier Pierre-François Bonnestrenne Henry Adnet
This tureen exemplifies the French Rococo style, an artistic movement celebrating naturalistic forms that developed in Paris during the early 1700s. In contrast to classical, controlled symmetry, Rococo forms morph, twist, and spill into the space around them. Meissonnier embellished this tureen in a picturesque arrangement of vegetables and creatures, transforming a utilitarian object into a decadent display of wealth and abundance. This masterpiece comes from a set of two tureens commissioned by the English Duke of Kingston during an extended stay in Paris in the 1730s.
Details
- Palette
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Select a color to find related artworks.
- Medium
- silver
- Dimensions
- No Extent Specified: height 0.371 m, width 0.379 m
- Origin
- France, Paris
- Department
- Decorative Art and Design
- Holding institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Image provider
- cleveland-museum-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
Art Genome Taxonomy
12 tags
Artistic Disciplines
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Design Metadata · 94%
The Cleveland Museum of Art classifies the work as Decorative Art and Design; it is an elaborately designed serving object.
Subject Matter
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Animals Both · 98%
Small animal forms are visibly modeled among the ornament, and the museum describes the decoration as including creatures.
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Flora Both · 99%
Leafy and vegetable forms visibly cover the upper and lower portions of the object, consistent with the museum’s description of vegetables and naturalistic forms.
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Food Both · 86%
The object is a tureen intended for serving food, and its decoration prominently incorporates vegetable forms.
Styles and Movements
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Rococo Art and Design Metadata · 99%
The museum explicitly identifies the work as exemplifying the French Rococo style.
Visual Qualities
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Curvilinear Forms Visual · 99%
The vessel, stand, shells, leaves, and projecting ornament are dominated by sweeping, curling organic contours.
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Highly Ornamented Visual · 99%
The object is densely covered with modeled foliage, shells, vegetables, creatures, and textured relief-like ornament.
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Asymmetrical Visual · 91%
The projecting natural forms vary across the silhouette and do not produce strict bilateral symmetry.
Time Periods
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18th Century Art Metadata · 99%
The catalog dates the object to 1735–38.
Geographic Regions
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French Art Metadata · 95%
The museum records the place of origin as Paris, France, and identifies the principal artist as French.
Materials
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Silver Metadata · 99%
The catalog identifies the medium and classification as silver; the image also shows a reflective silver-colored metal surface.
Tableware, Vessels, and Objects
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Tableware Metadata · 99%
The title identifies the object as a covered tureen, a serving item used as tableware.
Source & rights
Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier (French, 1695–1750). Covered Tureen on Stand (Pot-à-oille). Cleveland Museum of Art.