Cleveland Museum of Art

Potpourri Vase with Cover

Saint Cloud Porcelain Factory

Date

c. 1740–60

Medium

soft-paste porcelain

Culture

France, Saint Cloud, 18th century

Department

Decorative Art and Design

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

These vases were created to contain potpourri, a mixture of flowers, herbs, and spices emitting ambient fragrance. This specific function offered a particularly fertile ground for the development of French porcelain, as manufactories experimented with forms, surface ornamentations, and placement of perforations. Prior to Saint-Cloud's development of soft-paste porcelain in the 1690s, rumors spread throughout Europe that the prized material was made by burying a variety of materials, including lobster shells, in the ground for 80 years.

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