BLUE INTERLACED L'S ENCLOSING DATE LETTER G FOR 1759-1760, PAINTER'S MARKS FOR MEREAUD AND DODIN, INCISED C, THE ORMOLU OF A LATER DATE

Charles-Nicolas Dodin, arguably one of the best figure painters at Sèvres, started his career at Vincennes in 1754 painting enfants Boucher and trophies. Dated 1759/60, the present vase with its elaborately gilt ground, is an example of this early style. The flower painting found on the far side of the vase is the work of Charles Louis Méreaud le jeune. Recorded at Sèvres 1756-1780, Méreaud is considered equally gifted as a painter specializing in flowers. Although the present vase does not have a gilder's mark, the quality of the gilding is of equal quality to that of the painting and must be the work of an artist equal in stature to Dodin and Méreaud.

See T. Préaud and M. Brunet, Sèvres des Origines à nos Jours, Paris, 1987, p. 156, no. 97 for a pot-pourri vase and cover of the same form in the collection of the Musée des arts décoratifs, Paris.