Potpourri Urn 1750 - 1755

This 'Potpourri Urn' was crafted in Meissen, Germany, its porcelain adorned with delicate figures, flowers and idyllic scenes. Note the playful cherubs. These are not merely decorative, they are carriers of ancient memory. These putti, with their rosy cheeks and innocent gazes, echo figures from classical antiquity, reborn during the Renaissance and frequently deployed in Baroque art. They are the inheritors of Cupid, the god of love, yet here, their bows are replaced with garlands, and arrows with blossoms. Flowers themselves speak of transience and beauty, a vanitas motif reminding us of life’s fleeting nature. This symbolism can be traced back to ancient funerary practices. Yet, here, they are bursting forth, an expression of vitality and pleasure, masking the more somber implications of the vessel’s original contents: potpourri, or dried plants, meant to mask unpleasant odors. The cyclical return of symbols reflects our deepest cultural longings and anxieties, a dance between memory and desire.