c. 1875

Bowl from the “Service figures et accessoires japonais”

Félix-Joseph-Auguste Bracquemond

French, 1833 - 1914

For this porcelain service, created for Haviland and Company, Félix Bracquemond appropriated female figures from unidentified Japanese print sources as decorative motifs. All thirteen female figures appear together in the artist’s rare print known as Treize grâces japonaises (Thirteen Japanese Graces). Smaller images accompanying the female figures were similarly borrowed from Japanese print sources, transfer printed, arranged asymmetrically, and hand painted on each piece.

This service was likely shown at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876, along with two of Bracquemond’s other Japanizing porcelain sets, also in the museum’s collection: the Parisien (Parisian) service and the Fleurs et oiseaux jetés service　(Service with Scattered Flowers and Birds). This plate and the museum’s two other plates from the same service (2018-6-49; 2018-6-50) were part of a later special order from Haviland and Company that included the addition of the conjoined monogram "DB" to each piece.