A pair of sultan and sultana figurines, attributed to Jacob Petit, France, 19th century

Jacob Petit (1797-1868) was an important French porcelain manufacturer in nineteenth century Paris. Starting as a porcelain painter for the Sèvres national porcelain manufacture in 1822, Petit later opened his own successful porcelain factory in Fontainebleau. 

Following the Rococo revival, and a brief return of the Turquerie mode in the early-to-mid eighteenth century, Jacob Petit’s factory created hollow models of Sultan figurines which could serve as fashionable flasks or scent bottles. 

This Sultan and Sultana are highly ornate, painted mainly in gold and white, standing on navy pedestals with small blue and red details on the Sultana’s accessories. 

Another pair of these figures is published in Williams 2014, pp.210-1, fig.274. Examples of the same pair in differing colourways were sold in these room, 30 April 2025, lot 678; and 26 October 2022, lot 151.