Covered vase

Description

A comparable vase in the Historisches Museum in Frankfurt am Main has two merry putti sitting on the shoulders of the vessel and the reserved area round the landscape decoration richly adorned with applied roses. The Frankfurt piece shows the influence of still more lavishly decorated display ornaments which could be up to 40 cm tall. The present example is more modest and, from the numerous perforations, can be identified as a container for pot pourri, a form produced in several variants by Hoechst. Such vessels were used to contain aromatic wood, dried petals, etc, substances with a scent that would be diffused through the openings in the shoulder and the lid. The two iron red dragons are stock chinoiserie motifs, giving the lid a more pagoda like appearance.