Ensemble for chocolate
The high status accorded chocolate drinking in the eighteenth century is reflected in this extraordinary object, which combines three materials considered precious at the time. The painted decoration of the tray and beaker indicates that they were intended to be fitted with metal mounts; for example, areas left undecorated on the porcelain are covered by the gold mounts. The mounts provide stabilizing trembleuse stands for two beakers. The second beaker, of glass, would have held water. The gold scallop shell between the two beakers would have supported a gold spoon.
Artwork Details
- Title: Ensemble for chocolate
- Manufactory: Vienna
- Factory director: Claudius Innocentius Du Paquier period (1718–1744)
- Date: 1735–40
- Culture: Austrian, Vienna
- Medium: Hard-paste porcelain decorated in polychrome enamels with gold mounts; gold, lapis lazuli; glass
- Dimensions: Tray (confirmed): 8 1/2 x 5 3/8 x 3/4 in. (21.6 x 13.7 x 1.9 cm);
Porcelain beaker (confirmed): 2 11/16 x 2 5/8 x 2 5/8 in. (6.8 x 6.7 x 6.7 cm);
Glass beaker with cover: 4 1/4in. (10.8cm);
Assembled height tray, beaker, cover (confirmed): 4 7/8 in. (12.4 cm) - Classification: Ceramics-Porcelain
- Credit Line: Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1968
- Object Number: 68.141.282–.284
- Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
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