Feeding Cup

CultureFrench

ManufacturedRouen, France

Dateearly 18th Century

MediumTin-glazed earthenware (grand feu faience)

DimensionsOverall: 5.1 × 20.3 × 8.6 cm (2 × 8 × 3 3/8 in.)

DescriptionDiderot and d’Alembert’s widely read Encyclopédie (1751-1772) provides a detailed description of faience production. One of the plates features a variety of common objects, among which appears a feeding cup similar in shape to the example displayed. The reader is informed of the object’s function as a cup used to feed liquids to the sick (“Un biberon pour la commodité des maladies, fait pour contenir les breuvages qu’on veut leur faire prendre.”).

Credit LineThe Pierre Karch and Mariel O'Neill-Karch Collection.

Object numberG14.4.20

Classifications

European Ceramics

Sub-classification

French Earthenware - Faïence

Collections

Status

Not on view