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Jewel cabinet
Sèvres Porcelain Manufactorydesigned 1824, produced 1825–26
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
New York, United States
Upright cabinet made of porcelain plaques in a gilt-bronze armature, of two sections; the upper section with two large doors and a peacock crest, the lower section projecting forward with a glass top, supported on two ceramic columns, and containing two drawers. The porcelain plaques painted with allegorical and naturalistic ornament, featuring two large rondels on the doors with cameo-like images of Psyche (left) and Venus (right). Bronzework and porcelain ornamented throughout with neoclassical motifs including swags, volute scrolls, grotesques, and palmettes.
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Details
- Title: Jewel cabinet
- Creator: Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
- Creator Lifespan: 1738
- Date Created: designed 1824, produced 1825–26
- Physical Dimensions: w1000 x h1850 x d330 cm
- Type: Jewel cabinet
- Rights: Bequest of the Reverend Alfred Duane Pell
- Medium: Porcelain, bronze, gilding, mahogany, glass, enamel (painted), gold leaf, platinum leaf
- Viewing Notes: Like many other of the finest products made at the Sèvres porcelain factory, this cabinet was presented as a state gift from Charles X to Francis I, King of Naples and the Two Sicilies. Few cabinets of such grand proportion and elaborate decoration were made, on account of the heavy expenses incurred and the investment of time, often years. The cabinet is composed of large plaques of porcelain mounted in a gilt-bronze framework. The size of the plaques and their detailed painted ornament were made possible only by the new formulas for porcelains and glazes introduced in the nineteenth century. Ornamental motifs appropriate to a container for jewlery and valuables decorate the main panels of the cabinet; the Toilette of Psyche (center of the left door) and the Toilette of Venus (center of the right door), surrounded by cupids, cameos, flowers, birds, jewels and other precious objects.
- Provenance: Bequest of the Reverend Alfred Duane Pell
- Inscribed: On reverse of large plaques inset into hinged doors of upper section is stamped in underglaze blue: two crossed and intertwined "C"s with an "X" in the center, for King Charles X.
- Exhibitions: New York, NY, Cooper-Hewitt, "A Royal Gift: The 1826 Porcelain Jewel Cabinet," 5/17/94-1/22/95 New York, NY, Cooper-Hewitt, "L'Art de Vivre: Decorative Arts and Design in France 1789 - 1989," 3/30/89-8/6/89
- Dimensions: H x W x D: 185 x 100 x 33 cm (72 13/16 x 39 3/8 x 13in.)
- Bibliography: A Royal Gift: The 1826 Porcelain Jewel Cabinet (exhibition brochure) Cooper-Hewitt, National Museum of Design. 1994Smithsonian 1995 Engagement Calendar Smithsonian Institution. 1994. Opposite June 25 - July 1, 1995.Morley, J., FURNITURE, THE WESTERN TRADITION: History, style and design. Thames and Hudson, 1999.
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