Broth bowl with lid and stand

Mark: Schoelcher (handwritten in gold).
The stand is signed "Freund" in the painting.

Broth bowl with a lid and stand, made of white porcelain with a matt (brunit à l'effet) and brilliant gilded decoration and polychrome enamels.
In the centre of the stand is a view of the River Tagus and the city of Lisbon, signed by Freund, with the legend “VUE DE LISBONNE”. On the rim is a reserve with the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom of Portugal and Brazil and eleven medallions with a purple background decorated in green and white, which are repeated on the belly and the lid of the broth bowl.
On the belly of the broth bowl are polychrome reserves depicting Parisian palaces with the following legend: "CHATEAU DE ST: CLOUD and PALAIS DES THUILERIES".
On the lid is a landscape of a river with washerwomen and the Águas Livres Aqueduct in the background, with the legend "VUE DES ENVIRONS DE LISBONNE", while on the reverse is a medallion with a portrait of Prince Miguel, depicted in profile and wearing a uniform.

This is certainly a royal present, which has a red leather case with a crown engraved upon it. It is inspired upon the small broth bowls that were traditionally offered to women when they gave birth, later becoming a highly fashionable present at the time.

In August 1824, a report addressed to the Intendant-General of Police by a secret police agent responsible for supervising the activities of Queen Carlota Joaquina and the Princesses at Queluz, (the absolutist Queen was kept in exile there after her refusal to take the oath to the Constitution), mentions that Their Royal Highnesses had received "three broth bowls ", very similar to this one: "It is rumoured that a certain Vicente Latanzi, once a messenger of the old Marquis of Abrantes, a dealer in contraband, and lately a dealer of French jewellery, or to put it simply a well-known smuggler, entered the Palace, where, it is said, he sold various French manufactures to Their Royal Highnesses the Princesses! (…). It is known that recently he commissioned a certain Pinet from Paris, an acquaintance of his, to make three broth bowls, which he wished to offer the Princesses; they accepted these and expressed their gratitude to him for his kind thought through the Count of Villa Flor! They are made of porcelain and have various emblematic paintings upon them, including five main figures that represent Our Lord the King and his august daughters: one of them is holding the royal crown and the other the sceptre that they are presenting to their distinguished progenitor. In the middle are the royal arms, and in the background are some of the most notable views of Portugal".

(Extract from Catálogo do Inventário de Cerâmica do Palácio Nacional de Queluz, Inês Ferro, pp. 90 and 91).