Sèvres soft paste porcelain vase. Bleu nouveau ground with gilding, lip with leaf border, fluted neck with husk trails, circular stem and foot, square base. The primary reserve is painted with a Turkish lady in domestic scene, and the reverse with military trophies, gardening tools and musical instruments.

This vase is decorated with a scene of Turkish figures in a garden setting and on the back, trophies with Ottoman associations. It is possible that the Sèvres artist sought inspiration from Le Sultan Galant, engraved in 1768 by Louis Halbou (1730-1809) after Etienne Jeaurat (1699-1789).

In the 1760s, the Sèvres Porcelain Factory focused on a form of painted decoration using single or interlocking flower and leaf wreaths in twos and threes. These were confined to the subsidiary reserves on the back and ends of vases. The flower-wreath painter, Jean-Baptiste Tandart (fl. Sèvres 1754–1803), was particularly renowned for this style of decoration, and records show that he was paid overtime for painting wreaths. Whereas the decoration on the front of such vases usually included scenes inspired by contemporary artists, the reserves on wreathed vases included bouquets of garden flowers, including convolvulus, asters, speedwell, tulips and hollyhocks.

The moulded and gilded relief work on the vase is of exceptionally high quality. In particular, the acanthus leaf handles create an unusual feature as they break away from the upper part of the vase, seemingly tied with a gilded ribbon, to form a plume.

Text adapted from French Porcelain for English Palaces, Sèvres from the Royal Collection, London, 2009 and Painting Paradise: The Art of the Garden, London 2015.