Paris - Lot 38

Paris An ovoid earthenware bottle with cylindrical neck decorated in blue monochrome with the coat of arms of Marie Adélaïde d'Orléans, abbess of Chelles, surmounting a band left empty for the inscription, framed by birds and mantling. Attributed to the Pavia factory. 18th century, circa 1725-30 H. 27 cm. Third daughter of the Regent and Françoise Marie de Bourbon, legitimated of France, daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, Louise Adélaïde (1698- 1743), known as Mademoiselle de Chartres, then Madame de Chelles or Madame d'Orléans, was abbess of Chelles Abbey between 1719 and 1734. Louise-Adélaide d'Orléans developed a keen interest in the sciences, first at Chelles Abbey, then in Paris, in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, rue de Charonne, with the Benedictine nuns of the Madeleine de Traisnel. She set up an apothecary and laboratories, where she herself compounded medicines. For a detailed study of the pharmacy pots in these apothecaries, see Régine de Plinval de Guillebon, "Le Régent, le Génovéfain, l'Abbesse de Chelles et les arts du feu Les collections et les pierres factices du Régent; la manufacture de porcelaine de Bagnolet; les apothicaireries de l'Abbesse, à Chelles et à Paris", Revue des Amis du Musée de Sèvres, 2014, no. 23, pp. 43-61.