The basin or cistern, known as a 'Cuvette', was often associated with water-fountains, as featured in goldmiths' patterns published in Jean Lepautre's, Fontaines et Cuvettes, 1659; and in Daniel Marot's Nouveau livre d'Orfevrerie, circa 1700. Such items served a variety of purposes, including the chilling of wine bottles; while silver 'cuvettes' at the Palais-Royal were described in 1700 as being filled with flowers (Harvard, p. 1146). One such oval faience 'cuvette' on its walnut stand features in the 1720 inventory of the possessions of Louis Hanique at the Htel de Ville, Paris (H. Harvard, Dictionnaire de l'Ambeublement et de la Dcoration', Paris, vol. 1, pp. 1142-1146 and figs. 806 and 807). A similar faience cistern, designed with nereid handles after the Louis XIV antique style and flower-painted in the manner of Chinese porcelain, is exhibited in the Muse des Arts Dcoratifs, Lyon (C. Arminjon, N. Blondel, Objets civils domestiques, Paris, 1984, fig. 1455).