Chinoiserie faience jardinière attributed to Théodore Deck

This Chinoiserie style jardinière is crafted from ormolu mounted faience. The bowl of the jardinière is formed from wonderfully lustrous turquoise faience—the distinctive colour known as “Persian blue”. The surface of the faience is moulded with Chinese style motifs, including ruyi head sequences along the top and bottom and traditional Chinese twin dragons. The faience bowl is attributed to Théodore Deck, one of the leading ceramicists working in France in the mid- to late-19^th Century.

The faience bowl is affixed extensively with ormolu mounts, all of which are also in the Chinoiserie style. The bowl rests atop a base raised by four ornate pierced legs, each of which culminates in a dragon head. The lip of the bowl is set with a glistening ormolu band featuring a pierced frieze of ruyi heads, the form of which mirrors in a complementary manner the moulded ruyi heads adorning the top of the bowl. The sides of the jardinière are mounted with large twin ringed handles, the ormolu surfaces engraved and embossed with various geometrical motifs.