Pair of vases (vase hollandais nouvelle forme), Manufacture de Sèvres, 1763
These vases were used as planters for bulbs or other plants, which were nourished with water that filled the stands. The delicately painted motifs of Chinese figures and flowers derive directly from 18th-century Chinese art: porcelain, enamels or paintings on paper. The highly talented Dodin was the only painter of this kind of decoration on Sèvres porcelain.