This late 18th-century French soup tureen is decorated with an elegant design of delicate cornflower sprigs.
The color of the porcelain body is a warm creamy white. The cornflower sprigs, handles, and border edging are decorated with beautiful deep blue enamel.
The combination of the creamy white ground and the blue decoration is splendid.
The makers of Arras porcelain specialized in porcelain painted in this entrancing twilight blue called “Bleu d’Arras.”
Natural forms like the tree branch handle and the blue cornflower decorations were the height of French fashion in the last quarter of the 18th century.
This tureen was made at the Arras porcelain factory circa 1780.
The underside of the tureen is marked with the letters “AR” and the flying bird symbol of the Arras factory.
Dimensions:10.25″ diameter x 9″ height
Condition: Excellent, with some small original firing cracks along the outer edge of the cover (see image #3).
Price: $2,200
Background of Arras Porcelain:
The Arras Porcelain Manufactory was started in the 1770s by the family Delemers.
They were a family of four sisters who set up a porcelain factory employing as many as 20 people.
The factory lasted for just twenty years.
That was long enough to forge a reputation founded on the delicacy and quality of the shapes and decorations they created.
The factory was primarily known for the magnificent color of the blue painting on the porcelain known as “Bleu d’Arras.”
The Arras Museum of Fine Arts has a good collection of this porcelain on exhibit.











