Container

Art Historical Context

This elegant hard-paste porcelain container was created around 1735–40 at the Du Paquier factory in Vienna, one of Europe’s earliest centers for true porcelain production. Founded in 1718 by Claudius Innocentius du Paquier, the factory operated independently until 1744 and stood alongside Meissen as a pioneer in mastering the demanding technique of hard-paste porcelain, long known in China but newly achieved in the West. Its modest size and refined form reflect the period’s taste for intimate, decorative objects suited to the cabinets and tables of aristocratic collectors. The vessel’s surface is characteristically adorned with delicate floral motifs, a hallmark of Du Paquier decoration that combined European botanical naturalism with the vibrant color palettes inspired by Asian imports. Painted in soft enamels over the brilliant white body, these flowers highlight the factory’s distinctive style—lively yet intimate—before Vienna’s later, more formal period under state management. Today part of the Metropolitan Museum’s Hans Syz Collection, the container offers visitors a window into the excitement of the early eighteenth century, when European courts raced to unlock the secrets of porcelain and transform it into an art form of their own.