Of slender ovoid form, the milk jug rests on a spreading circular pedestal foot. The body, slightly constricted in its lower section, gradually flares towards the opening and terminates in a broad pouring spout.
It is fitted with a tall, raised zoomorphic handle, springing from the body within a large moulded acanthus leaf. The handle rises well above the opening in the form of a long, curved neck terminating in a stylised bird’s head.
HARD-PASTE PORCELAIN
Decorated on a white ground with a continuous wooded pastoral landscape painted in shades of gold. At the centre, a ram is rendered in purplish-pink monochrome and delicately heightened with gold.
The lower handle terminal is adorned with a large moulded acanthus leaf on a purplish-pink ground, richly highlighted with gold. A broad gilt band, gold lines and extensive gilding emphasise the pedestal foot, the lower body, the upper rim, the pouring spout and the handle.
Mark : NONE,
Although this milk jug bears no factory mark, it may confidently be attributed to the Dagoty Manufactory in Paris. The particularly distinctive form of its raised zoomorphic handle—with its long, curved neck terminating in a stylised bird’s head—is a determining feature of this attribution.
This type of handle appears on several documented pieces produced by Dagoty, particularly coffee pots and milk jugs, although its precise positioning varies according to the forms and compositions of the services to which they belonged.
The comparative examples illustrated in the accompanying photographs, either attributed to or marked by Dagoty, feature the same distinctive type of handle:
- A MILK JUG from my photographic archives, with a similarly shaped handle and bearing the gilt mark “Dagoty à Paris” on the underside.
- A COFFEE POT illustrated in the catalogue Dagoty à Paris – La manufacture de porcelaine de l’Impératrice, by Régine de Plinval de Guillebon, Somogy Éditions, 2006, p. 32, no. 10, featuring a comparable zoomorphic handle.
- A LARGE COFFEE POT from my photographic archives, with a similarly shaped handle and bearing the black mark “P.L. Dagoty” on the underside.
These three comparative pieces—one published in the principal reference work devoted to the manufactory and two bearing Dagoty marks—provide compelling evidence for attributing the present milk jug to the Dagoty Manufactory in Paris.
Dimensions : Length: 4.13 in – Height: 6.89 in,
Condition : PERFECT CONDITION,
Period : EMPIRE PERIOD,
Remarks : Minute signs of wear consistent with age and use.
Within Parisian porcelain production of the early 19th century, the use of purplish-pink monochrome combined with gilding to depict a ram represents a particularly original decorative choice. Traditionally associated with strength and fertility, and frequently found in the ornamental vocabulary of Classical Antiquity, the ram is here incorporated into a pastoral composition.
Its treatment deliberately departs from naturalism: painted in shades of purplish pink and delicately heightened with gold, the animal becomes a precious decorative motif in its own right. Combined with the landscape painted in shades of gold and the large pink-and-gold moulded acanthus leaf adorning the handle terminal, this decoration reflects the Dagoty Manufactory’s experimentation with gilding, colour and the visual effects of precious materials. It thus tran
Crédit Agricole
ou LYDIA 