Saucer with floral scrolls and flower sprays c. 1775 - 1790

Editor: Let's take a look at this “Saucer with floral scrolls and flower sprays”, a porcelain piece crafted around 1775-1790 by Clignancourt. The delicate floral painting is just so precious and sweet. I can't help but wonder... What story do you think this little dish whispers to us? Curator: Oh, it’s a flirty whisper, don't you think? The porcelain itself is so very refined and screams for luxurious parties! The sprays are almost like the flitting glances shared over cups of steaming chocolate or tea during witty exchanges and gossiping. Note the asymmetrical balance... the wabi-sabi attitude toward what's perfection in painting, an intentional departure, perhaps reflecting a rebellion, from what were considered stuffy Rococo-era motifs! Editor: I never thought about it as flirty before! I saw delicate, but you're right, there's a bit of coquetry, especially in how the golden rim emphasizes its small size. Do you think people really paid attention to the asymmetry in a daily object like this? Curator: Probably not consciously, but one never knows how deeply such seemingly minute things work at you at all the different levels of awareness, consciously or unconsciously. Now I am suddenly seeing these blossoms as the sweet sentiments of the era... and the painter definitely had an eye for balance and proportion, playing against a purely calculated kind of arrangement. Makes you wonder, what kind of hands used it, don't you think? What stories of secret liaisons might it tell if it could talk? Editor: Absolutely! Imagining it being held and used gives it so much more life than just viewing it as an object. I’ll never see porcelain quite the same way. Thanks! Curator: My pleasure! And the most glorious thing, isn't it, that a single object is an entire universe!