Gaming Set

Applied Arts of Europe

c. 1735

Du Paquier Porcelain Manufactory
Austria, 1718-1744

This richly decorated gaming box ranks among the most exceptional works of art produced by the Du Paquier Porcelain Manufactory during its short twenty-five-year existence. Mounted with gold plaques and painted with colored enamels and gilding, the box opens to reveal four small, similarly decorated porcelain containers. These smaller boxes are mounted with gold and set with diamonds; each, when opened, reveals two types of porcelain gambling chips. The boxes were painted according to a complex, tightly organized decorative scheme. The lid of the large box depicts three trompe l’oeil playing cards that appear to have been carelessly thrown down. Each of the corners of the box and lid is painted with a network of violet and gold ornaments characteristic of the factory’s mature, late-Baroque style. With its liberal use of gold and diamonds, this work was certainly among the most extravagant objects crafted at the Du Paquier manufactory. The box may have been presented as a diplomatic gift, perhaps from the Austrian Habsburgs to their Russian Romanov counterparts.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Applied Arts of Europe

Artist: Du Paquier Porcelain Manufactory (Manufacturer)
Title: Gaming Set
Place: Vienna (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1730–1740
Medium: Hard-paste porcelain, polychrome enamels, gilt mounts, and diamonds
Dimensions: 8.6 × 16.9 × 14.2 cm (3 3/8 × 6 5/8 × 5 9/16 in.)
Credit Line: Eloise W. Martin fund; Richard T. Crane and Mrs. J. Ward Thorne endowments; through prior gift of The Antiquarian Society
Reference Number: 1993.349
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/126981/manifest.json

Ghenete Zelleke, “An Embarassment of Riches: Fifteen Years of European Decorative Arts,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, Vol. 28, No. 2, Gift Beyond Measure (2002): 31-33, no. 7 (ill).
Charissa Bremer-David, ed., Paris: Life and Luxury in the Eighteenth Century, (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2011), p. 124, cat. no. 46 (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, The Essential Guide, 4th Edition, (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 2015), p. 133 (ill.).

J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Paris: Life and Luxury, April 20-December 20, 2011.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.