Getty Museum

Chamber Pot (Bourdaloue)

Chantilly Porcelain Manufactory

Date

about 1740

Medium

Soft-paste porcelain with polychrome enamel decoration

Culture

French

Department

Decorative Arts

Institution

Getty Museum

Oval chamber pots such as this one have been known since the 1700s as *bourdaloues*. Legend has it that these objects were named after the Jesuit priest Père Louis Bourdaloue, who preached at the court of Louis XIV. Bourdaloue's sermons were apparently so long that the ladies at court asked their maids to supply them with chamber pots so that they would not be forced to leave and miss any of his wisdom. Others guess that Bourdoloue himself needed the vessel during his own sermons as he suffered from the disease hypospadias. This chamber pot has scrolling walls shaped like snail shells, while the handle with its flat thumb rest is formed and painted to resemble a twig. The painted flowers on the sides of the vessel resemble designs from Japanese porcelain. The Prince de Condé, owner of the Chantilly Manufactory, had a large collection of Japanese ceramics, which frequently inspired the factory's porcelain painters.

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