Bottle Cooler (seau à demi-bouteille ou à liqueur)

In 1805 the Sèvres porcelain manufactory had a dessert service of 116 pieces delivered to Joséphine Bonaparte, first wife of Napoleon I. It was made specifically for the Empress and depicts plants from her gardens at the château de Malmaison near Paris. This is one of four small bottle coolers from the service showing aloe. The artists at Sèvres copied the plants from engravings made after watercolors by the flower painter Pierre Joseph Redouté that were published in three botanical treatises beginning in 1799.