Duvivier’s Birds on Mennecy Porcelain in the
V & A Museum
This striking Mennecy soft-paste porcelain ewer (1a) has been in the V & A ceramics collection in London since 1909, when it came with a large collection of French porcelain donated by the art collector and dealer, Joseph Henry Fitzhenry (1836-1913). A generous lender and donor to the museum for over forty years, Fitzhenry greatly expanded its collection of Continental ceramics with his gifts. (i)
By virtue of the similar bird decoration recently identified on other Mennecy examples, both this ewer and another Mennecy teapot donated by Fitzhenry (6a), can be added to the growing group of earliest attributions to Fidelle Duvivier’s hand. (ii)