Basin decorated with Henry IV of France and his family, from the Fontainebleau or Paris workshop.

Oval basin or deep dish from the Fontainebleau or Paris workshop, follower of Bernard Palissy, with a historiated relief decoration in tones of brown, blue, ochre, and white depicting members of the family of Henry IV of France, with nine figures represented within an interior, the floor with a green ground. The wing is decorated with a brown ground highlighted with fleurons in compartments framed by cascades of piastres on a blue ground, the reverse marbled in blue and manganese purple.

The King, wearing the cross of the Order of the Holy Spirit and a plumed hat, is depicted at the center, while Marie de' Medici is seated beside him on the same bench. Two children appear in the foreground: the younger, dressed in white, seated on the knees of his governess and holding the sovereign’s hand, would be the young Louis (born in 1601), the future Louis XIII, seated on the knees of his nurse Madame de Monglat. The second, older child, shown standing before Henry IV and holding a hat in his right hand, is probably César de Vendôme, son of Henry IV and Gabrielle d'Estrées, born seven years earlier in 1594 and legitimized the following year. Four great lords, knights of the Order of the Holy Spirit, surround the royal family in the background, in varied attitudes.

The decoration of this basin is inspired by a celebrated engraving by Léonard Gaultier (1561–1635), after a painting by François Quesnel, dated 1602 and published by Jean Leclerc in Paris.

Circa 1600–1650