Cooler for Wine Glasses (Prince de Rohan Service)

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Cooler for Wine Glasses (Prince de Rohan Service)

Manufacturer Manufacture nationale de Sèvres (French, 1740-present)

Place of OriginSèvres, France

Date1771-1772

Dimensions5 1/8 x 11 7/16 in. (13 x 29 cm)

MediumSoft-paste porcelain, enamel and gilt

ClassificationCeramics

Credit LineGift of Royce G. Martin in Memory of His Wife

Object number

1951.401

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 27

DescriptionIn the 18th century, the celebrated Sèvres porcelain manufacturer produced elaborate table services with sometimes hundreds of pieces. The striking bleu celeste (“heavenly blue”) pieces displayed here are part of a service meant for serving both dinner and desserts. Cheese, meat, soup, cakes, custards, ice creams—each was served in a cup, plate, or bowl designed specifically for that purpose. The 368-piece service (now dispersed among many collections) was commissioned by Cardinal Prince Louis de Rohan while he was French ambassador to the court in Vienna (1771–74). The plates feature Rohan’s monogram “LPR.” The splendidly painted (if fancifully colored) exotic birds on the pieces were probably based on the prints in George Edward’s 1743 publication A Natural History of Birds.

Label TextThe Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory employed painters who specialized in bird imagery. They often used as sources the illustrated books on ornithology that proliferated during the second half of the 18th century, though many of the birds are depicted with colors that are more decorative than reflective of reality. This vessel is called a monteith and was filled with ice or cold water to keep wine glasses chilled.Published ReferencesReich, Paula, Rare and Wondrous: Birds in Art and Culture, 1620-1820, Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, 2021, p.66-67 [exh. catalogue].