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Rare Vincennes cheese dish (fromager, égouttoir à fromage frais) in fine Louis XVI ormoulu mounts. The circular plain white porcelain dish has incised piercings used to strain the liquid from fresh cheese. The base is decorated with concentric rings of circles centered on a star formed by five lenticular cutouts. The sides are decorated with two facing pyramids of circles and two facing patterns of reticulated scrolls forming stylized acanthus leaves. The fine and well chased ormoulu mounts are very unusual on a Vincennes serving piece. They consist of front and back shell feet flanked by scrolls and supporting a raised sprig of leafage. The sides rest on scrolled feet under lyre-form scrolls that rise to the rim and are fastened internally with ormoulu locking screws; the scrolls are connected by a laurel swag that forms a handle. [Firing crack in base and rising a short way up the side. Handles and feet removed to accommodate the mounts. One internal ormoulu locking screw missing.]
Height (ins.): 2¾      Length/Width (ins.): 6½      Depth (ins.): 6.75 (17.1 cm.)
Origin: France     Period: Louis XV