Francois BOUCHER
The mysterious basket 1748
oil on canvas (oval)
92.7 x 78.9 cm
Purchased through The Art Foundation of Victoria with the assistance of Coles Myer Ltd, Fellow, Mr Henry Krongold CBE and Mrs Dinah Krongold, Founder Benefactors, and the Westpac Banking Corporation, Founder Benefactor, 1982
E2-1982


Provenance
The mysterious basket exhibited by the artist, Salon, Paris, 1748; exhibited by the artist,
Salon, Paris, 1750, (as one of four paintings);
* Countess of Rosebery (1851­1890), Mentmore Towers, Buckinghamshire, 1884; on the US art market; with Knoedler's, New York, 1956; from whom purchased by Durand-Matthiesen, Geneva, 1956; Ortiz-Patiņo Collection; Georges Ortiz-Patiņo; with David Carritt, London, 1982; from whom acquired by the NGV through The Art Foundation of Victoria 1982.

* This picture, was recorded in the boudoir at Mentmore, probably acquired in the nineteenth century by Mayer Amschel de Rothschild (1818­1874), from whom it would have passed to his daughter, the Countess of Rosebery, with the contents of Mentmore.