This porcelain and gilt-bronze jardinière are formed by a high bronze gilded base supporting the actual porcelain jardiniere decorated with ormolu sectioning.
A jardinière is defined in the decorative art as: ‘a stand for flower-pots, usually in metal but sometimes in wood.’ It differs from flowerpots in the sense that the plant is not potted in the recipient but is integrated in it with the pot. Over time and countries, they were structured as an Athénienne, oblong high tables or just for tables made with porcelain. During the nineteenth century, they became fashionable as bringing plants inside was appreciated, especially in France after the Restoration. In French houses, conservatory type rooms started appearing and this decorative art object became of standard use.
The jardinière in the collection of SSM is a combination of all these objects as it stands on a shortened tripod meant to be placed on a table. The circular object is tripartite in its creation. The plinth stands on outward indented three turned toupie feet, beaded and gadrooned. Above the feet on the plinth, three putti are seated, crossing their fish tailed legs and holding with their folded arms the porcelain pot over their shoulders. The tales are scrolling underneath them to their sides on the plinth ending in an open leaf. Their heads, decorated with a laurel crown, are bowed as if they are crushed under the weight of the porcelain. The putti are linked through a flower garland flowing behind their heads creating a wreath in between them. Below the garland, the leaf shaped end-tails are flanking a flower bouquet flowing over the plinth. This movement would have mirrored plants movement placed within the jardiniere with its flowers or leaves going over its edges.
The porcelain above starts with a small beaded and foliate plinth and is divided into three sections by ormolu foliage. The porcelain body has a bleu celeste ground colour which is ornamented with three medallions and gilt mounted. The frames have a flower garland scrolled around them, flowing towards each other on the upper parts on the right- and left-hand sides. Each medallion pictures a different scene of putti and cupids on clouds, playing with flowers, doves, bow and quiver, surrounded by fruit baskets and flowing draperies around them. The jardinière is topped with a rim in the form of a flower thread with roses and sunflowers surrounding a beaded frieze ending the decorative art object with the impression of a perpetual flower garland linking all its parts. Finally, the white interior of the basin is painted with a colourful foliage of leaves and flowers creating a wreath on the top with some foliage escaping from it. Thus, the interior and the exterior form a visual harmony of a heavenly garden.
In France, the iconography of putti was often used on porcelain. The origins seem to be the rococo painter of the eighteenth-century, François Boucher (1703–1770), who first started working with the Sèvres manufactory under the patronage of Madame de Pompadour. His designs were considered ideal for these porcelains. Over the years many artists copied his works such as Louis Félix de la Rue (1731–1765) who reproduced his paintings on several mediums and whose etchings of the seasons were probably an inspiration for the paintings present on this jardinière.
