The Bassin de Flore is one of four seasonal fountain basins arranged in a square parterre between the palace terrace and the main garden axis — Spring (Flora), Summer (Ceres), Autumn (Bacchus), and Winter (Saturn). Each has a central gilded lead figure representing a season, surrounded by children and appropriate vegetation: Flora reclines among flowers, Ceres among wheat, Bacchus among grapes.
The four basins were designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart and the sculptures cast between 1672 and 1679. They are elegant and relatively understated compared to the large festival fountains — garden ornaments rather than theatrical pieces. On Musical Fountains days they run with their originals jets and the gilded figures are briefly restored to something like their original brilliance.
The Parterre de Latone where these basins sit is one of the more pleasant places to pause in the gardens — flat, sunny, with benches along the edges and the satisfying geometry of four matching basins in a simple arrangement. After the overwhelm of the palace interior it is a good place to decompress.