The Home Beautiful: Sèvres Sauçières, 1780

Sauce Boat
French
Soft-paste Porcelain and Enamels, 1780
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection 
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Dating to about 1780, this sauce boat, is the work of the Sèvres Porcelain Factory. The piece is crafted of soft-paste porcelain, and features a deep green enamel ground with gilded decoration.

The sauce boat of oval shape terminates in a spout at each end. Raised foliage and berries adorn oval and kidney-shaped recesses which are decorated with polychrome butterflies and birds—some with worms.

The boat was purchased by George IV from the auctioneer Harry Phillips for £5 5s 6d 20th in March of 1805. It’s part of a set which includes a matching dessert service.

The Home Beautiful: The Sèvres Elephant Coffee Pot, 1862

This and all related images from:
The Victoria & Albert Museum

I don’t care for coffee, but, I would drink coffee were it poured from the trunk of this elephant. Here, we see a stunning coffee pot and cover in the form of the head of an elephant. It is constructed of porcelain with pâte-sur-pâte (when layers of relief adornment are applied to an unfired porcelain piece by applying white slip with a brush) decoration and gilt.


When this coffee pot was made in 1862, Britain was finding elephants quite fashionable. You see, the second half of the Nineteenth Century saw a series of international exhibitions of displaying fine and decorative arts from across the globe. This served to introduce new themes to the decorative arts. Exotic animals, especially those from India, were especially popular in Britain.

This jolly, but, slightly menacing, elephant was displayed at the London 1862 International Exhibition by the French manufacturer, Sèvres, who described it as “A Coffee Pot Of 'Oriental' inspiration.” The elephant was created by the designer and decorator Marc Louis Solon—known for his imagination and whimsy. This piece allowed Solon to showcase his sense of humor and artistic expertise. 

Gifts of Grandeur: The Sèvres Vase Aubert No. 40, 1924-37

Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Courtesy of Her Majesty,
Queen Elizabeth II

This is one of a pair of vases, called “Vase Aubert No. 40” which was made in hard-paste porcelain between 1924-37. One of the pair depicts “Africa” while the other depicts “India.” The vases were presented by the President of the French Republic to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) on the occasion of their coronation, May 12, 1937

The vases themselves were produced by Sèvres as early as 1924, but were evidently left undecorated. One, seen here, was painted in 1928 by Henry-Joseph Lasserre with a tiger hunt in the Indian sub-continent. The scene depicts huntsmen seated in howdahs on the backs of elephants, shooting at tigers in a lush jungle.

The other was painted in 1930 by Louis-Jules Trager, depicting an African scene of antelopes, camels and native dancers amongst the pyramids. In May 1937, the English royal arms was added at a cost of 6,000 francs.

The two vases, each valued at 40,000 francs, were sent in 1937 to the Minister of Foreign Affairs for presentation to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth by the President of the French Republic, Monsieur Albert Lebrun. However, after the whole Abdication Keruffle ™ with his older brother the King had announced that, as a general rule, he would not accept coronation gifts. To avoid embarrassment, the French ambassador was informed that the gift would be treated as personal rather than as official.

The Home Beautiful: Sèvres Sauçières, 1780

Sauce Boat
French
Soft-paste Porcelain and Enamels, 1780
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection 
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Dating to about 1780, this sauce boat, is the work of the Sèvres Porcelain Factory. The piece is crafted of soft-paste porcelain, and features a deep green enamel ground with gilded decoration.

The sauce boat of oval shape terminates in a spout at each end. Raised foliage and berries adorn oval and kidney-shaped recesses which are decorated with polychrome butterflies and birds—some with worms.

The boat was purchased by George IV from the auctioneer Harry Phillips for £5 5s 6d 20th in March of 1805. It’s part of a set which includes a matching dessert service.

Precious Time: Vase à Médaillon du Roi (The Medallion of the King), 1767-68

Porcelain Vase and Lid with Clock and Medallion
1767-1768
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Made by the Sèvres Porcelain Factory between 1767 and 1768, this clock is composed of a vase and cover of soft-paste and biscuit porcelain with a “bleu nouveau” ground. It features gilded decoration and gilt bronze mounts.

The egg-shaped vase with gilt-dot circle decoration is inset with a clock. The scrolls at the sides of the piece are joined by gilded oak swags. At the reverse, a mounted biscuit medallion shows the right profile of Louis XVI.

Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Precious Time: A Gorgeous Sèvres Clock and Garniture, 1770-1780

Clock and Garniture
1770-1780
French
The Victoria & Albert Museum

In 1740, in the royal château of Vincennes, the world’s most important porcelain company—at the time--was founded, enticing master craftsmen from the nearby factory at Chantilly. By 1745, Louis XV had granted the makers of this porcelain the privilege of producing designs “in the manner of Saxony, painted and gilded, with human figures.”


The patronage and protection of King Louis XV and his famed mistress, Madame de Pompadour, enabled Vincennes to produce objects of the highest quality. In 1756, the factory was so successful that it had outgrown its workshops in the château. They were moved to a new high-tech location at Sèvres (south-west of Paris). So enamored of the porcelain, in 1759 the king purchased the factory himself, producing works of unprecedented luxury specifically for the French court and the King's apartments at Versailles. Highly costly, the items manufactured for this group were only the stuff of the court and the upper-classes.

This clock and garniture set is the perfect example of the work of Vincennes. Glorious blue porcelain mounted in ormolu characterizes this unusual clock and garniture of covered vases. The clock features moveable dial bands set in an oviform vase which has been adorned with an ornate pattern in blue, black and gold. It is surmounted by a gilt-bronze figure of an armed cupid. The handles resemble floral festoons.

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: 'Jeu de l'Echarpe,' 1898-1904

The Victoria & Albert Museum

This delicate figure of white biscuit porcelain is part of a grand table design of fifteen standing female sculptures of the “scarf dance” made famous by Loïe Fuller. The group was made between 1898 and 1904, designed by Agathon Léonard for the Sèvres porcelain factory in Paris.

This fluid, elegant group was intended for display on a table or sideboard and depicts each step in Fuller’s celebrated dance—“Jeu de l'Echarpe.” Agathon Léonard was careful in the design of the group, mastering each motion and expression of Fuller’s dance. He was born Léonard Agathon van Weydeveldt of Belgian parents and trained as a sculptor, specializing in ceramic modeling. The group from which this sculpture comes is considered one of his great triumphs.


The full group, fittingly entitled “Jeu de I'Echarpe,” was first shown in the Paris 1900 Exhibition at which Sèvres won a Grand Prix, and was described in the exhibition report as "elegant figures in a graceful and charming ensemble which were a great and deserved success.” This figure and its porcelain sisters typify the spirit of Art Nouveau style—undulation, movement, and the idealized female form. Léonard couldn’t have picked a better subject than Miss Fuller. The American dancer was a regular fixture at the Folies Bergère, Paris where her free-flowing, silk-clad dance caught the attention of many an artist, including the French artist Henri Toulouse-Lautrec who was also drawn to the elegant theatricality of the spectacle.

The figure is marked number “12” of the group of fifteen and bears the marks “S” and “1904.”

The Home Beautiful: Jatte à punch, 1790

Jatte a Punch
French, 1790
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection 
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

King George IV was given this punch bowl. The work of hard paste porcelain with gilded adornment comes from the Sèvres Porcelain Factory and was made around 1790.

The bowl had been commissioned by Maria Luisa of Parma, Queen of Spain. She was the wife of Charles IV. The bowl, at the time was valued at 10,800 livres. The details of how it ended up in the hands of George IV are somewhat sketchy. It was recorded in the collection of George IV’s Carlton House in 1826 with a notation that it had been a gift from French regent Louis XVI in 1791. The dates don’t match up somehow.

The polychrome bowl is adorned with a border of scrolls and foliate volutes on a white ground. The gilt central band boasts floral garlands, baskets of flowers and vases. Four reserves have been decorated with allegorical scenes of the Seasons. Further adornment includes borders of ivy, myrtle, acanthus, birds, butterflies, corn husks, and pearls. Cupid and Flora, Bacchus, Ceres and Apollo represent the seasons.

The Royal Collection

Gifts of Grandeur: The Sèvres Vase Aubert No. 40, 1924-37

Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Courtesy of Her Majesty,
Queen Elizabeth II

This is one of a pair of vases, called “Vase Aubert No. 40” which was made in hard-paste porcelain between 1924-37. One of the pair depicts “Africa” while the other depicts “India.” The vases were presented by the President of the French Republic to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) on the occasion of their coronation, May 12, 1937

The vases themselves were produced by Sèvres as early as 1924, but were evidently left undecorated. One, seen here, was painted in 1928 by Henry-Joseph Lasserre with a tiger hunt in the Indian sub-continent. The scene depicts huntsmen seated in howdahs on the backs of elephants, shooting at tigers in a lush jungle.

The other was painted in 1930 by Louis-Jules Trager, depicting an African scene of antelopes, camels and native dancers amongst the pyramids. In May 1937, the English royal arms was added at a cost of 6,000 francs.

The two vases, each valued at 40,000 francs, were sent in 1937 to the Minister of Foreign Affairs for presentation to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth by the President of the French Republic, Monsieur Albert Lebrun. However, after the whole Abdication Keruffle ™ with his older brother the King had announced that, as a general rule, he would not accept coronation gifts. To avoid embarrassment, the French ambassador was informed that the gift would be treated as personal rather than as official.

The Home Beautiful: Vase cannelé or vase à corset, 1755-1757

Pair of Vases
French, c. 1755
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

The Sèvres Porcelain Factory created these playful vases between 1755 and 1757. The vessels are made of soft-paste porcelain, blue lapis enamel on a white ground and gilded adornment with ormolu.

These fanciful corset-shaped designs are typical of production at Vincennes in the early years and stylistically match the work Jean-Claude Duplessis--one of the most influential artistic directors at Vincennes and Sèvres between 1745 and 1774. Vases in this style quickly went out of fashion, however, as the more staid and severe neoclassical style became the dominant look. 

The Home Beautiful: Sèvres Sauçières, 1780

Sauce Boat
French
Soft-paste Porcelain and Enamels, 1780
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Dating to about 1780, this sauce boat, is the work of the Sèvres Porcelain Factory. The piece is crafted of soft-paste porcelain, and features a deep green enamel ground with gilded decoration.

The sauce boat of oval shape terminates in a spout at each end. Raised foliage and berries adorn oval and kidney-shaped recesses which are decorated with polychrome butterflies and birds—some with worms.

The boat was purchased by George IV from the auctioneer Harry Phillips for £5 5s 6d 20th in March of 1805. It’s part of a set which includes a matching dessert service.

The Home Beautiful: A Pair of Sèvres Candelabra, 1765-1770

Candelabra of porcelain vases
1765-1770
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
This and all related images courtesy of
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Made between 1765 and 1770, these vases are crafted of soft-paste porcelain and painted a deep blue enamel ground. The work of the Sèvres Porcelain Factory, they've had gilt bronze mounts added to make them function as candelabra and, also, to give the appearance that these were older pieces retrofitted for another use.

The pair was acquired by King George IV and they were recorded in the Royal Collection in 1826 as being in the Small Store Room under the Clock. They are described as "A pair of Blue seve Porcelain Jars and Covers mounted in Ormolu, scroll Branches for two lights, festooned, Octagonal Bases. 12 ½ Inches high."

With their ormolu fittings, the pair is a superb early example of the new trend toward Chinese style objects which defined mid-eighteenth century decorative arts. Sèvres and other makers would often try to pass off their wares as genuine Chinese artifacts.

The curator of the Royal Collection tells us:

So successful were the potters at Sèvres at producing such counterfeit pieces that, in 1829, the then Director of the manufactory, Alexandre Brongniart, bought a pair in the mistaken belief that he was acquiring Chinese vases!

The Home Beautiful: Jatte à punch, 1790

Jatte a Punch
French, 1790
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

King George IV was given this punch bowl. The work of hard paste porcelain with gilded adornment comes from the Sèvres Porcelain Factory and was made around 1790.

The bowl had been commissioned by Maria Luisa of Parma, Queen of Spain. She was the wife of Charles IV. The bowl, at the time was valued at 10,800 livres. The details of how it ended up in the hands of George IV are somewhat sketchy. It was recorded in the collection of George IV’s Carlton House in 1826 with a notation that it had been a gift from French regent Louis XVI in 1791. The dates don’t match up somehow.

The polychrome bowl is adorned with a border of scrolls and foliate volutes on a white ground. The gilt central band boasts floral garlands, baskets of flowers and vases. Four reserves have been decorated with allegorical scenes of the Seasons. Further adornment includes borders of ivy, myrtle, acanthus, birds, butterflies, corn husks, and pearls. Cupid and Flora, Bacchus, Ceres and Apollo represent the seasons.

The Royal Collection

Precious Time: Vase à Médaillon du Roi (The Medallion of the King), 1767-68

Porcelain Vase and Lid with Clock and Medallion
1767-1768
Crown Copyright
The Royal CollectionImage Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Made by the Sèvres Porcelain Factory between 1767 and 1768, this clock is composed of a vase and cover of soft-paste and biscuit porcelain with a “bleu nouveau” ground. It features gilded decoration and gilt bronze mounts.

The egg-shaped vase with gilt-dot circle decoration is inset with a clock. The scrolls at the sides of the piece are joined by gilded oak swags. At the reverse, a mounted biscuit medallion shows the right profile of Louis XVI.

Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

To Serve and Project: La Chapellerie; Hatmaking, 1828

Design for a Dessert Plate
Jean-Charles Develly, 1828
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This design of pencil, ink and brown wash by Jean-Charles Develly was made in 1828 for the decoration of one of the plates intended to be added to a dessert service known as the Service des Arts Industriels which was made at the Royal Porcelain Manufactury of Sèvres France between 1820 and 1835.

The drawing shows the interior of a hat-works and depicts men in a workshop steaming, shaping and ironing top hats. Finished examples are displayed on a shelf above. The design is typically known as “La Chapellerie.” The entire porcelain service was meant to illustrate, in an attractive and picturesque way, the progress of technology and its application to different crafts. It would be the equivalent of a dish decorated with a designer using an iPhone now.

King Louis-Philippe famously bought the service and gave it to Prince von Metternich in May of 1836.

To Serve and Project: Theiere Calabre, 1780

Theiere Calabre
Tea Pot, Sevres, France, 1780
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This teapot and cover of soft-paste porcelain is painted with enamels and gilded. The enamel decoration takes the form of  wreaths of roses and cornflowers between “bleu celeste” bands.  A finial of fruit and leaves surmounts the lid. 

It was made at the Sèvres Porcelain Factory, France, circa 1780 by Monsieur Nicquet who served as the painter.  

Sculpture of the Day: 'Jeu de l'Echarpe,' 1898-1904

The Victoria & Albert Museum

This delicate figure of white biscuit porcelain is part of a grand table design of fifteen standing female sculptures of the “scarf dance” made famous by Loïe Fuller.  The group was made between 1898 and 1904, designed by Agathon Léonard for the Sèvres porcelain factory in Paris. 

This fluid, elegant group was intended for display on a table or sideboard and depicts each step in Fuller’s celebrated dance—“Jeu de l'Echarpe.”  Agathon Léonard was careful in the design of the group, mastering each motion and expression of Fuller’s dance.  He was born Léonard Agathon van Weydeveldt of Belgian parents and trained as a sculptor, specializing in ceramic modeling. The group from which this sculpture comes is considered one of his great triumphs.


The full group, fittingly entitled “Jeu de I'Echarpe,” was first shown in the Paris 1900 Exhibition at which Sèvres won a Grand Prix, and was described in the exhibition report as "elegant figures in a graceful and charming ensemble which were a great and deserved success.”  This figure and its porcelain sisters typify the spirit of Art Nouveau style—undulation, movement, and the idealized female form.  Léonard couldn’t have picked a better subject than Miss Fuller.  The American dancer was a regular fixture at the Folies Bergère, Paris where her free-flowing, silk-clad dance caught the attention of many an artist, including  the French artist Henri Toulouse-Lautrec who was also drawn to the elegant theatricality of the spectacle. 


The figure is marked number “12” of the group of fifteen and bears the marks “S” and “1904.”

Gifts of Grandeur: The Sèvres Vase Aubert No. 40, 1924-37

Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Courtesy of Her Majesty,
Queen Elizabeth II

This is one of a pair of vases, called “Vase Aubert No. 40” which was made in hard-paste porcelain between 1924-37. One of the pair depicts “Africa” while the other depicts “India.” The vases were presented by the President of the French Republic to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) on the occasion of their coronation, May 12, 1937

The vases themselves were produced by Sèvres as early as 1924, but were evidently left undecorated. One, seen here, was painted in 1928 by Henry-Joseph Lasserre with a tiger hunt in the Indian sub-continent. The scene depicts huntsmen seated in howdahs on the backs of elephants, shooting at tigers in a lush jungle.

The other was painted in 1930 by Louis-Jules Trager, depicting an African scene of antelopes, camels and native dancers amongst the pyramids. In May 1937, the English royal arms was added at a cost of 6,000 francs.

The two vases, each valued at 40,000 francs, were sent in 1937 to the Minister of Foreign Affairs for presentation to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth by the President of the French Republic, Monsieur Albert Lebrun. However, after the whole Abdication Keruffle ™ with his older brother the King had announced that, as a general rule, he would not accept coronation gifts. To avoid embarrassment, the French ambassador was informed that the gift would be treated as personal rather than as official.

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: The Sèvres Elephant Coffee Pot, 1862

This and all related images from:
The Victoria & Albert Museum

I don’t care for coffee, but, I would drink coffee were it poured from the trunk of this elephant. Here, we see a stunning coffee pot and cover in the form of the head of an elephant. It is constructed of porcelain with pâte-sur-pâte (when layers of relief adornment are applied to an unfired porcelain piece by applying white slip with a brush) decoration and gilt.


When this coffee pot was made in 1862, Britain was finding elephants quite fashionable. You see, the second half of the Nineteenth Century saw a series of international exhibitions of displaying fine and decorative arts from across the globe. This served to introduce new themes to the decorative arts. Exotic animals, especially those from India, were especially popular in Britain.

This jolly, but, slightly menacing, elephant was displayed at the London 1862 International Exhibition by the French manufacturer, Sèvres, who described it as “A Coffee Pot Of 'Oriental' inspiration.” The elephant was created by the designer and decorator Marc Louis Solon—known for his imagination and whimsy. This piece allowed Solon to showcase his sense of humor and artistic expertise.

Precious Time: A Gorgeous Sèvres Clock and Garniture, 1770-1780

Clock and Garniture
1770-1780
French
The Victoria & Albert Museum

In 1740, in the royal château of Vincennes, the world’s most important porcelain company—at the time--was founded, enticing master craftsmen from the nearby factory at Chantilly. By 1745, Louis XV had granted the makers of this porcelain the privilege of producing designs “in the manner of Saxony, painted and gilded, with human figures.”


The patronage and protection of King Louis XV and his famed mistress, Madame de Pompadour, enabled Vincennes to produce objects of the highest quality. In 1756, the factory was so successful that it had outgrown its workshops in the château. They were moved to a new high-tech location at Sèvres (south-west of Paris). So enamored of the porcelain, in 1759 the king purchased the factory himself, producing works of unprecedented luxury specifically for the French court and the King's apartments at Versailles. Highly costly, the items manufactured for this group were only the stuff of the court and the upper-classes.

This clock and garniture set is the perfect example of the work of Vincennes. Glorious blue porcelain mounted in ormolu characterizes this unusual clock and garniture of covered vases. The clock features moveable dial bands set in an oviform vase which has been adorned with an ornate pattern in blue, black and gold. It is surmounted by a gilt-bronze figure of an armed cupid. The handles resemble floral festoons.