Kettle
Medium
Hard-paste porcelain, brown ground (fond laque), black enamel, and gilding; silver-gilt and ebony mounts
Dimensions
20.1 × 19.1 × 14.2 cm (7 7/8 × 7 1/2 × 5 9/16 in.)
Classification
teaware
Department
Applied Arts of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
151398
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This kettle, made at the Sèvres porcelain manufactory outside Paris, illustrates a story recounted by the ancient Roman historian Titus Livius, known in English as Livy. In 390 B.C., when Rome was under siege, a plebeian (commoner) named Albinius was fleeing the city, transporting his family in a cart. He encountered the vestal virgins, the guardian priestesses of the sacred flame of Rome, who were escaping on foot carrying their ritual vessels. Albinius offered his cart to the priestesses, thus...
About the Artist
Manufacture nationale de Sèvres · 1763–1800
The Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, a premier French porcelain factory, flourished from 1763 to 1800 as the royal powerhouse of European ceramics, producing opulent soft- and hard-paste porcelain under the patronage of Louis XV and XVI. Originally founded in Vincennes in 1740 to rival Meissen and Chantilly, it relocated to Sèvres in 1756 and was fully acquired by the Crown in 1759, becoming the M...