Gilt metal and Sèvres style porcelain perfume casket

This beautiful Sèvres style perfume casket is oval in form. The casket stands on four gilt metal scroll feet, each foot connected to the others by a ribbon of garlanded gilt metal beading. The porcelain body of the casket springs from the base. The body is decorated in the round with a single delicately painted scene of a courting couple within an idealistic pastoral landscape. This fête galante image is continued on the top of the lid, where the same couple fish together beside a lake. The colour palette employed is Rococo in nature, with pastel shades of pink, blue, and green predominating. The domed lid is bounded by a parcel gilt band and a band of bleu celeste porcelain, a combination of gold and blue that is repeated at the base of the porcelain body. The edge of the lid, and the edge of the body, is lipped in an intricately chiselled gilt metal band and includes a scrolled foliate clasp.

The fitted interior of the casket encloses two glass scent bottles with gilt metal mounts on their necks and lids. The top of the lid of each bottle is painted in miniature with the verre églomisé (painting in reverse on the interior surface of glass) technique. The painted lids feature scenes of urban Paris.