A rare Saint-Cloud Bonbonnière in the form of a Swan, circa 1745
Modelled in the white, this rare porcelain bonbonnière takes the form of a resting swan. Beneath the swan’s curved neck is a large, moulded flower with five petals. The body and wings are moulded to represent the bird’s plumage.
See Bertrand Rondot (No. 217) for a pair of Saint-Cloud candlesticks in the Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris, with the same moulded flower decoration.
Provenance: With Simon Spero, London; an English Private Collection.
Condition: Unmounted and the cover lacking. There are several minute chips to the base and tail feathers, and minor patches of discolouration, also to the base. No cracks or restoration.
Dimensions (at the base): Length 5.7 cm; Width 4.1 cm; Height 4.3 cm
Discovering the Secrets of Soft-Paste Porcelain at the Saint-Cloud Manufactory, c.1690-1766, Bertrand Rondot, Ed. (BGC / Yale, 1999).
French Porcelain: A Catalogue of the British Museum Collection, Aileen Dawson (British Museum Press, 2000).
French Porcelain of the Eighteenth Century, Christopher Maxwell (V&A Publishing, 2009).
Refs. Saint-Cloud produced a coloured version of a swan bonbonnière, although in a different form to the present example, see Bonhams, London, 12 December, 2012, lot 220. Mennecy also produced a coloured bonbonnière in the form of a swan, c.1750-55.