Pot (pair)

The pair of cylindrical pots bearing the French royal coat of arms, made of white porcelain and decorated with overglaze enamels. The belly displays a shield, representing the French coat of arms, ringed with two borders, one of basketwork, on which seven flower bulbs are superimposed, and another of stylised plant motifs from which there hang two intersecting gold medallions – one of them smaller and oval, containing an angel transporting itself on a barge, and the other larger and circular, containing a star and a bird. The belly is also decorated with the trunks of two plum-trees bearing fruit, two stems of chrysanthemums supporting a basket in which there is a bulbous fruit and another stem with lotus flowers and chrysanthemums supporting a basket with a leaf inside. The decoration of the belly ends in a border of gold and russet coils next to the base.
Attention is also drawn to the pot’s two handles, in the shape of a human head, decorated with a Chinese character on the front and with blue and russet leaves, respectively, on the lateral areas of the front and on the sides. Although the decoration of the pot shows the combination of Chinese and European decorative motifs, in a clear mixture of races, these heads represent Oriental figures with elongated eyes.