THE MONTEITH CIRCA 1769, BLUE INTERLACED L'S ENCLOSING DATE LETTER Q, PANTER'S MARK FOR D. LEVE AND INCISED 5, THE FLOWERS VINCENNES CIRCA 1745-50, THE ORMOLU 19TH CENTURY

The present seau has in the past been associated with Madame du Barry, the last mistress of Louis XV, as she is recorded as purchasing a pair of seau crénellés à fleurs in September of 1769.

The fashion for mounting porcelain flowers on sumptuous ormolu stems and bases was first popularized in the 1740's by marchand merciers and promoted by influential collectors such as Madame de Pompadour. Perhaps the most ambitious ormolu-mounted ensembles with Vincennes flowers were a gift of Marie-Josèphe de France to her father Augustus III of Saxony made in 1749, now at the Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden Museum (inv. PE 707), and the similar 'Sunflower Clock' now in the collection of HRH King Charles III (RCIN 30240). The trend of mounting porcelain flowers continued into the 19th century and even into the 20th century, with modern marchand merciers like Roseberg & Stiebel mounting Vincennes flowers on tole stems and inserting them into a pair of Sèvres vases 'Hollandois' in the 1950s for Henry Ford (see Christie's, New York, 28 April to 7 May 2020, lot 287).

Seau crénellés, or monteiths, first appeared in British silver in the 1680's. Filled with ice and water, they were used to chill and rinse stemmed glasses at the table. As the form evolved, removable collars and more decorative crenellation were added, allowing the bowls to be used for punch, or for more decorative or presentational purposes.