Gravy boat

The sauceboat is incomplete; the ring under one of the handles is missing, there is a crack and there are enamel chips on the reverse. It is oval in shape, with a slightly undulating rim; the center of the long sides is fitted with two flat, oval-shaped handles, and the ends are flared to form a spout. One of the handles was fitted with a ring on the reverse. In cross-section, the handle is almost flat; the wall is high and curves towards the flat bottom. On the reverse, the sauceboat has a bulging rim and rests on an oval foot with an unglazed base. The bottom is recessed and flat. The body is pinkish-beige and covered with bluish-white enamel; there are enamel smudges under the dish, near the rim. There is a molded mark in relief under the base: 5 or 2 inverted; the decoration is hand-painted in two-tone. It has been traced and painted in blue underglaze and in red overglaze. It is of the compartmented braid and floral basket type. The painted decoration is applied on the wing and on the base. The wing is decorated with a blue and red painted braid. The braid is adorned with two alternately repeated motifs. One is in reserve on a blue-painted background: it consists of a half-leaf set between two scrolls set with a pair of wing-shaped quarter-flowers. These flowers are adorned with red radiating lines. The other motif is a latticework drawn in red and trimmed with blue-painted pearls. At the corners, these two motifs are separated by a half-flower made of red radiating lines with a blue-painted core; it is set in two blue-painted arched bands, while the sides are in reserve. The background is decorated with a flowering basket. The basket has a truncated cone shape with a flat, bulging bottom and rim, resting on a polygonal base; the basket and base are outlined in blue and partially filled with a latticework painted red; the basket’s rendering imitates rattan. From the top of the basket emerges a central half-flower framed by two leaves and grapes; these are surrounded by leafy plant stems. The main flower is traced and painted in two shades of blue, and the two adjoining leaves are partially filled with radiating lines traced in red. The curved plant stems and other leaves are outlined and painted in blue. Two red tendrils hang from each side of the basket. The face of the handles is decorated with radiating lines, bordered by a line and a fillet, and trimmed with an arched line. The preserved portion of the ring under one of the handles is adorned with two blue-painted fillets on its sides.