Pair of Wall Sconces (Louvre Museum)
This pair of porcelain wall sconces is very unusual in its use of three different enamel grounds – blue, pink, and green. Each sconce consists of three curved branches decorated with leaves, typical of the Rocaille style. The sconces were the work of Jean-Claude Duplessis (died 1774) and come from the bedchamber of Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764) in the Hôtel d’Evreux, where she kept them along with her mantelpiece ornaments, also in the Louvre.
L’exploitation des carrières(1823) par Develly Jean-Charles (1783-1849)
Vincennes ware (Encyclopedia Britannica), pottery made at Vincennes, near Paris, from c. 1738, when the factory was probably founded by Robert and Gilles Dubois, until 1756 (three years after it had become the royal manufactory), when the concern moved to Sèvres, near Versailles. After 1756 pottery continued to be made at Vincennes, under Pierre-Antoine Hannong; both tin-glazed earthenware (officially) and soft-paste porcelain (clandestinely, in defiance of a Sèvres monopoly) were made until royal intervention forced Hannong’s dismissal in 1770. The factory continued until c. 1788. Histories of the royal porcelain manufactory of France usually discuss products before 1756 under the name Vincennes and those after 1756 under the name Sèvres, though when it comes to questions of patronage and style, pottery authorities refer freely to the Vincennes–Sèvres administration.
Some of the innovations for which Sèvres became famous actually began during the Vincennes period. Soft paste (a porcellaneous material but not true porcelain) was made from 1745 by François Gravant and a company formed with a monopoly of the production of “porcelain in the style of the Saxon.” Typical of Vincennes were biscuit figures (white mat, unglazed figures in soft paste) introduced c. 1751–53 by J.-J. Bachelier, and flowers (c. 1748), also modelled in soft paste, on wire stems or applied to vases.
Chantilly porcelain (Encyclopedia Britannica), celebrated soft-paste porcelain produced from 1725 to c. 1789 by a factory established in the Prince de Condé’s château at Chantilly, Fr. Two periods can be distinguished, according to the composition of the porcelain; in the first, up to about 1740, a unique, opaque milk-white tin glaze was applied on a rather yellowish body; in the second (1741–89), a traditional, transparent lead glaze was used.
Chantilly porcelain plate decorated with dragons, c. 1725; in the Victoria and Albert Museum
The preoccupation of Chantilly, until the Prince died in 1740, was with Japanese Kakiemon designs. Some of his designs were directly inspired by his large collection of the ware, others derived from Meissen versions of these Oriental motifs, such as the “Red Dragon” service, which, in iron-red and gilding, became the Chantilly Prince Henri pattern. Other Japanese patterns simplified and adopted included the quail, partridge, flying squirrel, and pomegranate.
Porcelain produced in the second period was influenced first by Meissen and then by Sèvres, both in modelling and in the use of coloured grounds. Some rare figures reflecting Chinese influence were modelled, as well as bird figures and small statuette flower holders. The main production, however, consisted of domestic ware—plates, jugs, basins, and jardinieres—enhanced by an effective economy of decoration painted in underglaze blue only or at best with a limited palette, which was the result of Royal edicts in favour of the Sèvres. The motif was often small flower bouquets known as Chantilly sprigs or more formal scrolls and plait work.
Excerpt
Bernard Palissy and His School
The serious study of nature crops up in the work of the ceramist Bernard Palissy (1510–1590), as well as in that of other artists and architects like Philibert De L’Orme. Toward the end of his career, Palissy established a “little academy” in Sedan, in northeastern France, and gave lectures on the natural sciences there and in Paris that were published as the Discours admirables in 1580. Untutored in Latin and Greek , Palissy’s knowledge was practical and based on direct observation. He kept a cabinet of curiosities, and this spirit of taxonomy transferred delightfully to the surface of what he called rustiques figulines [sic]. Palissy developed a method of molding from fauna and flora and applying the casts as decoration to large basins. Having closely observed the locomotion of animals, he transformed the slithering or coiling of snakes into motifs that invigorated his clay compositions. Textures of ferns and leaves contrast with the shiny spiral of the nautilus or sharp rim of the scallop, as he created works that mimic the habitat of a riverbank yet resolve into artistic order. His compositions read sometimes as parables: the cunning serpent preys on innocent creatures , or, in the tradition of tomb symbolism, snakes and frogs may represent the corruptibility of human flesh, while shells stand for eternal life. These tales in clay come brilliantly to life through stunning colors . Having begun his career as a stained-glass artist in Saintes, Palissy experimented with many enamel hues to achieve a rich palette of glazes.
Ian Wardropper
Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
April 200
Excerpt..
In 1663, Louis XIV’s future superintendent of finance, Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619–1683), wrote that the time of private patrons was over: the hour had come for them to yield to the king. To him, and him alone, now belonged the task of steering the intellectual and artistic life of the kingdom. Colbert’s vision for the young Louis XIV (1638–1715), to whom he was to dedicate all his gifts as financial adviser and administrator, strikingly prefigures the development of the arts in France during the long reign of the Sun King , when all the arts would revolve around the king’s personal tastes and will and would reflect the power and splendor of the sovereign and the state. Yet, the prophetic accuracy of Colbert’s statement notwithstanding, no declaration of artistic policy can truly account for the variety, the fantasy, and the brilliant accomplishments of the arts fostered by Louis XIV from 1661, the year he decided to rule France alone (without a prime minister, assisted only by a three-man Privy Council) until his death in 1715.
In 1661, both the taste of the young monarch and prevailing artistic style had already been shaped by the creative fervor of the 1650s. When Louis was anointed king at Reims in 1654, the then-predominant fashion in Paris was the Italian Baroque, so enthusiastically promoted by Cardinal Mazarin (1601–1661), prime minister and godfather to Louis. Italian painters such as Gian Francesco Romanelli were imported by Mazarin to decorate his palace and were recruited to work on the Palais du Louvre. The Royal Apartments and those of the Queen Mother, Anne of Austria, were redecorated in 1654–55 with frescoed and stuccoed ceilings in the Bolognese manner. Romanelli worked side by side with French sculptors—sometimes trained in Italy , like Michel Anguier—in a newfound harmony that recalled the Renaissance traditions of the Fontainebleau of François I (1494–1547) and brought together Italian decorative inventions and French elegance of line and composition.
Full article at Metropolitan Museum of Art
