Sèvres porcelain cup and saucer (part of a service)
date: label: date made
content: 1811-1812
notes: label: Description
content: The cup and saucer has elaborate decoration in gold and platinum on a deep blue-black ground. The exterior of the cup and interior flange of the saucer has a stylized floral diaper pattern covering the surface. A gold-framed portrait of the theologian and philosopher Pierre Charron(1541-1603) is painted in onglaze enamels on the exterior of the cup. The center of the saucer has a stylized floral medallion. The interior of the cup and exterior of the saucer are heavily gilded. The handle is made of silver.
label: Description
content: All the five parts of this tea service have portraits in miniature of significant French Renaissance writers, poets, theologians, and historians. This enamel painted portrait by a Sèvres artist was most likely based on an engraving by Léonard Gaultier (1561?-1635?) produced shortly after Charron's death in 1603.
label: Description
content: This cup and saucer belongs to the Alfred Duane Pell collection in the National Museum of American History. Before Pell (1864-1924) became an Episcopalian clergyman quite late in life, he and his wife Cornelia Livingstone Crosby Pell (1861-1938) travelled widely, and as they travelled they collected European porcelains, silver, and furniture. Pell came from a wealthy family and he purchased the large William Pickhardt Mansion on 5th Avenue and East 74th Street in which to display his vast collection. The Smithsonian was one of several institutions to receive substantial bequests from the Reverend Pell which laid the foundation for their collections of European applied arts.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: France: Île-de-France, Sevres
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Ceramics and Glass
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
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content: Art
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content: Domestic Furnishings
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CE.P-1061Eab
label: catalog number
content: P-1061Eab
label: accession number
content: 225282
objectType: label: Object Name
content: cup
label: Object Name
content: saucer
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: red (saucer color)
label: Physical Description
content: polychrome (component surface decoration color name)
label: Physical Description
content: portrait of charron (joint piece description of decoration)
label: Physical Description
content: portrait of charron (overall description of decoration)
label: Physical Description
content: ceramic, porcelain (cup material)
label: Physical Description
content: ceramic, porcelain (saucer material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (saucer material)
label: Physical Description
content: gold (cup color)
label: Physical Description
content: gold (saucer color)
label: Physical Description
content: green (cup color)
label: Physical Description
content: green (saucer color)
label: Physical Description
content: red (cup color)
label: Measurements
content: overall cup: 4 9/16 in x 5 5/16 in x 4 1/8 in; 11.58875 cm x 13.49375 cm x 10.4775 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall saucer: 1 5/16 in x 6 5/16 in; 3.33375 cm x 16.03375 cm