La Toilette
Date1775 - 80
Designer
Louis-Simon Boizot
French, 1743 - 1809
Label TextThe center group, La Toilette, presents a convivial scene of family life, including the husband, children, servants and pets, gathered around the lady of the house as she is coiffed for the day. These sculptural groups were created in an uncolored and unglazed porcelain that resembles marble, a fashion that suited the renewed interest in classical sculpture.
La Toilette is the centerpiece of a three-group porcelain ensemble created at the French Sèvres manufactory between the years 1774 and 1780. This elegant sculpture presents a convivial scene of family life, showing the husband, two children, two servants and the family's pets gathered around the lady of the house as she is coiffed for the day.
This group joins the museum's La Nourrice (The Nursing Mother; 69.137) and Le Déjeuner (69.138; in the eighteenth century, le déjeuner meant breakfast). These three groups, portraying scenes from the life of an upper-class French family, reflect the Age of Enlightenment, a time when elite society embraced different, more nurturing attitudes toward maternal and family commitments. These sculptural groups were created in uncolored and unglazed porcelain that resembles marble, a fashion that suited the renewed interest in classical sculpture.
This group joins the museum's La Nourrice (The Nursing Mother; 69.137) and Le Déjeuner (69.138; in the eighteenth century, le déjeuner meant breakfast). These three groups, portraying scenes from the life of an upper-class French family, reflect the Age of Enlightenment, a time when elite society embraced different, more nurturing attitudes toward maternal and family commitments. These sculptural groups were created in uncolored and unglazed porcelain that resembles marble, a fashion that suited the renewed interest in classical sculpture.
Object number2004.27
ProvenancePurchased from John Whitehead, Chateau du Pin, France
Photo CreditPhoto: Paul Macapia
Credit LineDecorative Arts Acquisition Fund, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum
Dimensions10 x 11 1/4 x 7 5/8 in. (25.4 x 28.6 x 19.3 cm)
MediumHard-paste biscuit porcelain
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