French Old Paris Personnage Figural Veilleuse Teapot on Warming Stand Capuchin Monk Holding Bottles of Bordeaux Wine c 1850

Antiques : Ceramics, Porcelain : French

$1,700 USD
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This is a French hard paste porcelain veilleuse, or a teapot on a warming stand, or a tea warmer. The region is probably Old Paris or Fontainebleau because the original attribution for this design is the porcelain maker of Jacob Petit, in business up through 1862. It is 19th century, circa 1850, though it might be earlier.

The veilleuse is called a personnage, a figural piece. This personnage is a Capuchin monk, and may have been part of a pair, where the other personnage was a nun. This model of the monk had a few variations in the design. It was a popular form because of it being religious and Christian, and at the same time linked to the wine industry in France. However the 19th century monk veilleuses are rare and scarce today.

The monk is 12” high, 6” long and 5 ¼” wide. The base is 7 3/8” high and the top is 5 ¾” high.

You can view a variation of this veilleuse in the booklet “Rare Porcelain Veilleuses Collection, City of Trenton”, and the book by Harold Newman, “Veilleuses A Collector’s Guide.” The difference between this specific veilleuse and the ones shown in the books is the monk in this instance is holding a wine goblet, whereas the monks shown in the books are holding a mug.

There is one very odd thing about this veilleuse. The top is the teapot. The lid is behind the monk’s head. If you look inside, the spout of the teapot is the monk’s right arm. However, there is no hole for the tea to pour out. There should be a hole in the goblet, probably inside the bowl of the goblet, but it was either never drilled or the hole filled up with residue due to age. Therefore this veilleuse cannot be used for hold and pour tea.

The monk is wearing robes colored a cream-yellow. He has a rope belt with a chain and cross dangling from the belt. He is barefoot in sandals, standing on a greenish and brownish plinth. Over the monk’s left arm is a basket with one bottle of wine shown. In his left hand he is holding a bottle of wine clearly labeled “Bordeaux,” and as you know, Bordeaux is some of the finest red wine the world has ever produced. Around his neck the monk has a cape and hood. The cape drapes down behind and to his left over the basket. The cowl of the hood forms the lid of the teapot behind his head. On the back of the monk is a vine with a thick sturdy trunk, supporting clusters of purple grapes. The monks head is bare, with a tonsure, meaning a partially shaven head common to priests and monks of the Catholic faith. The monk has bright ruddy cheeks and is grinning, probably because he enjoys his wine.

Here are the flaws. Inside the teapot there are some really old age cracks, which are on the inside only, not the outside. The longest one runs across the front of the monk’s chest in the interior and is discolored with age. There is some rubbing wear to the colors here and there, a tiny bit. On the left side, there is a line in the porcelain above a green leaf. On the front, the bottom right corner, there is a ding, resulting in a circular crack in the porcelain. On the bottom of the veilleuse, in the interior, there are glaze skips in the white glaze. There is a crack running above the candle hole on the side to the top of the base (interior only.) There is some dust of the ages, which I didn’t remove. The rim of the bottom shows color wear from the top rubbing the rim. I show photos of most of the flaws, except the camera could not get inside the pot to show those interior age lines.

There are three pieces in total, the bottom, the top and the lid. The godet, or the warming tray, has long since disappeared.

There are Old Paris type of marks incised in the glaze on the bottom of both pieces. I think there is a number 7 on both pieces, and on the bottom there is an additional squiggle mark, incised, and filled in with glaze, and could be the mark for the original modeler.

Item ID: RL-109
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