Description:
Chinese export porcelain pot decorated in the Famille rose palette with sprays (especially roses) in pink, rose, blue, green and orange, which was made for export to the Western market and intended to be used as a chocolate pot. Chinese porcelain chocolate pots similar to this example were owned by prominent Americans such as General Henry Knox (1750-1806) and Samuel Shaw (1754-94), the first American consul in China. The rococo molded spout and right-angle pistol grip handle were very fragile and prone to breakage, limiting the number of examples that survive. Oddly, many of these chocolate pots, such as this example, display two pairs of pierced holes in the lid and through the neck of the pot, which probably held a metal mount that assisted in flipping the lid open for the chocolate mill.The wheel-thrown cylindrical form has a molded handle in the form of "pistol" or "knife" handle with gilding; the molded spout is rococo in style with ribs at base and gilding; the domed lid rim and incurving neck have a repeating herrringbone border of pink and gilt dashes. The enamels have flaked off in several areas.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2009.1 |
