GENERAL DESCRIPTION
By the mid-eighteenth century, women’s dressing tables displayed the height of exotic luxury in the rococo taste. With its fine draperies and expensive accoutrements, the dressing table rivaled the state bed and sideboard as a stage for dazzling extravagance.
Created in the late-eighteenth century, this scent-bottle and stopper was included as part of a lavish porcelain and gilded silver dressing box, or toilette set, (see 1995.22.1.A-I) designed by Charles Gouyn and made by St. James's Factory in London, England. Many toilette sets included a variety of objects such as scent-bottles, snuffboxes, sewing materials, brushes and combs, jewelry, various containers for cosmetics and powders, and writing accessories.
This scent-bottle and stopper is gold-mounted and modeled as a nymph in a layered and loose white dress painted with scattered sprays of flowers. The figure is seated cross-legged with a bundle of flowers on her lap. Behind the figure is a pink rosebush issuing from a green mound with puce rock pattern. The figure is set on a circular green mound base that is concave underneath while the stopper is formed as three pink roses and foliage attached with a miniature gold chain and gold fixtures. The St. James's Factory was recognized specifically for decorative galanterie (decorative porcelain trinkets) including scent bottles, such as this piece, which was designed for holding perfume.
Drawn from:
- Douglas Hawes, "Dressing casket with accessorie" in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Charles Venable (New Haven, NJ: Yale University Press, 1997), 204.
- Bonnie Pitman, ed. "Dressing casket with accessories" in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 162.
- Kevin W. Tucker, Label Copy, Margot B. Perot Curator of Decorative Arts and Design, August 2004
- "Important Silver and Objects of Vertu including Works of Art from Houghton" in Christie's Catalogue (London: December 8, 1994), 12.
NOTES
This note was tagged #draft by Megan Wanttie, summer 2016 and harvested to Brain and Google Docs. I am removing the #draft tag and replacing it with #incomplete so that the note can be reviewed for formatting, tags, and text. The existing #drafts in Brain and Google Docs are on a list to be deleted. I am also adding department tags so that the note can be routed. (EAS, 08/26/2016)
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
Porcelain with enamel decoration
Wrought
Modeled
Historical periods
Individuals
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RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
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Apply to objects where number equals 1995.22.12
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General Description
By the mid-eighteenth century, women’s dressing tables displayed the height of exotic luxury in the rococo taste. With its fine draperies and expensive accoutrements, the dressing table rivaled the state bed and sideboard as a stage for dazzling extravagance.
Created in the late-eighteenth century, this scent-bottle and stopper was included as part of a lavish porcelain and gilded silver dressing box, or toilette set, (see 1995.22.1.A-I) designed by Charles Gouyn and made by St. James's Factory in London, England. Many toilette sets included a variety of objects such as scent-bottles, snuffboxes, sewing materials, brushes and combs, jewelry, various containers for cosmetics and powders, and writing accessories.
This scent-bottle and stopper is gold-mounted and modeled as a nymph in a layered and loose white dress painted with scattered sprays of flowers. The figure is seated cross-legged with a bundle of flowers on her lap. Behind the figure is a pink rosebush issuing from a green mound with puce rock pattern. The figure is set on a circular green mound base that is concave underneath while the stopper is formed as three pink roses and foliage attached with a miniature gold chain and gold fixtures. The St. James's Factory was recognized specifically for decorative galanterie (decorative porcelain trinkets) including scent bottles, such as this piece, which was designed for holding perfume.
Drawn from:
- Douglas Hawes, "Dressing casket with accessorie" in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Charles Venable (New Haven, NJ: Yale University Press, 1997), 204.
- Bonnie Pitman, ed. "Dressing casket with accessories" in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 162.
- Kevin W. Tucker, Label Copy, Margot B. Perot Curator of Decorative Arts and Design, August 2004
- "Important Silver and Objects of Vertu including Works of Art from Houghton" in Christie's Catalogue (London: December 8, 1994), 12.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
This note was tagged #draft by Megan Wanttie, summer 2016 and harvested to Brain and Google Docs. I am removing the #draft tag and replacing it with #incomplete so that the note can be reviewed for formatting, tags, and text. The existing #drafts in Brain and Google Docs are on a list to be deleted. I am also adding department tags so that the note can be routed. (EAS, 08/26/2016)
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
Porcelain with enamel decoration
Wrought
Modeled
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
1995.22.12
source file
object_notes_1_a-0149.xml.nores