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OR Cinta Ole SEVRES WITH AN GISTORICALT INT RODCCTION BY EDOUARD GARNIER SAINT A nik BANGLA ABN “SEMANA A 50 Plates Representing 250 THater-Colour Subjects after the Mriginals LONDON p HONS Ne UVEviE@ KJ 14 KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND MDCCCXCIL ORIGIN OF THE MANUFACTURE OF PORCELAIN IN EUROPE THE PORCELAIN OF THE MEDICIS — ROUEN PORCELAIN MANUFACTORIES OF SAINT-CLOUD, LILLE, CHANTILLY AND MENNECY MEISSEN (DRESDEN) PORCELAIN Chinese porcelain was imported into Europe by the Venetians from the th commencement of the 14” century and excited general astonishment and a admiration. Like everything else that came from the East, the land of marve it was for a long time supposed to possess magic virtues, and the substance of which it was composed was believed to be produced by means bordering on the : supernatural. « Never has porcelain (Porcellana)' » writes Gui Panciroli, the learned Italian lawyer, « been seen before; it consists of a paste of plaster, eggs, and shells « of marine locusts and of similar species, which, after being well mixed, is secretly « hidden in the ground by the father of a family, who then acquaints his child- « ren with its hiding place. It remains for 80 years without seeing the light | « of day, after which the heirs remove it, and, finding it ina fit state for mani- F « pulation, make of it those precious transparent yases so beautiful in form and « colour that architects can find no fault in them; amongst their inestimable « yirtues is that of breaking should poison be put into them. He who buries « the substance never removes it himself, but leaves it to his children, nephews, Ec « and heirs as a rich legacy from which they may derive much profit : it is far « more precious than gold, » To this widely spread belief in the marvellous, to absurd fables of this kind, z 1. Rerum memorabilium libri duo, Venice, 1539. jolla elects Cos ‘a Re SN 2 THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES accepted as truth even by men of the highest learning, fables which were gravely repeated as late as the latter half of the 17" century’, is probably dite that lack of success which attended the attempts made at various times to manu- facture porcelain of a similar nature in’ Europe. The fact that the porcelain of the East was composed of a natural product, a kind of white clay (of a peculiar kind, it is true, but one that might be found in other countries as well as in China) was so little realized, that for a long time alchemists alone endeavoured to discover the secret of its manufacture, and vied with one another in attempts to produce a substance similar to porcelain, in imitation of those Vases de Sinant? which kings alone were able to possess. Thus in 1680 an attempt was made which, though scon abandoned, neverthe- less had interesting results : Bernardo Buontalenti and Ulysse Aldrovandi the celebrated naturalist, two learned men attached to the Court of Francesco dei Medici, succeeded in manufacturing, at the castle of San Marco near Florence, translucent pottery with a vitreous glaze. This was for the time a, distinct step in advance, but the paste of which this ware was composed resembled very little in delicacy the porcelain it was intended to reproduce (fig. 1). It was only towards the close of the 17” century, after considerable quantities of Chinese porcelain had been imported into Europe, first by the Portuguese, and then by the Dutch, that speculation on this subject began to follow a more logical, and consequently a truer, course. Nevertheless, whilst credence was denied to the supernatural properties of this porcelain, a strong belief survived in the existence of an earth of an extraordinary nature, which, according to the scientists, was to be found exclusively in the extreme East. No manufacturer appears to have thought of searching for this earth, and even later, when, in 1709, accident led to the discovery of the first beds of kaolin * at Aue, by which Bottger was enabled to establish the first manufactory in Europe in which true porcelain was made, this discovery was surrounded by a kind of mysterious legend which continued current for a long time afterwards. This circumstance is, however, hardly to be regretted, for it was to the belief so generally entertained that the manufacture of artificial porcelain, an essentially French invention, owed its origin. 1. V. Extraordinaire of the Mercure Galant (July 1678) in connection with the Chinese porcelain which the Duchess of Cleveland caused to be sold at the Foire Saint-Laurent. 2, China. 3. The porcelain or kaolin clays are of an earthy and friable nature, and are composed essentially of silica, often visible in the form of grains of quartz or sand, and of alumina in the form of a white clay; they form a paste when mixed with water. THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES 3 There are in fact two kinds of porcelain : Kaotin, or Harp Porcexat, emanating originally from the East, the paste of which consists exclusively of Kaolin, a white clay found in its natural state in the ground, and which, like all clays employed in ceramics, is merely ground up, washed, &c.; and Arti- FiciAL PorceLain, known under the name of Sorr PorceLain', the paste of which, of a somewhat complicated composition, varied in every manu- factory, although the ingredients of which it consisted were everywhere practically the same. Deeper research, greater labour, and more scientific knowledge were obviously required to discover this latter kind of por- celain than to produce the hard por- celain composed«of substances em- ployed in the forms in which they occur in nature. It was in all proba- bility to Louis Poterat, sieur de Saint Etienne’, a potter of Rouen, whose name, though generally so little known, deserves a prominent place in the annals of French manufac- tures, that France owed the disco- very of the composition of that beautiful porcelain which Occupics Fig. 1. — Brocca or pitcher, of Florentine, so-called the highest position in the history particu resceiale: a ; (In the collection of Baron Gusr. pe Roruscuitp.) of European ceramics. Louis Poterat presumably did not pursue its manufacture further ; possibly he could not produce his porcelain under conditions and at prices which would have enabled him to dispose of it easily and to advantage, or possibly, devoting 1. This expri on soft (tendre) does not apply to the consistency of the paste, but 1° to the inability of t so high a temperature as the hard variety; (the former fuses at a temperature far below that at which the latter is hardly baked through), and 2°, to the softness of the glaze which can easily be cratched with a steel. (Cf. Brongniart’s « 7 this porcelain to res aité des Arts céramiques, » vol. II, p. 444 and following pp.) > commode contenant les adresses 2. In the L de la Ville de Paris by Abraham du Pradel (1690) it is stated that the sieur de Saint-Etienne, owner of the potteries at Rouen, discovered the secret of manu- iring porcelain ware in France. re J ha. 1 4 THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES his entire energies to the production of the beautiful faience or earthenware which was to make Rouen the centre of the French ceramic industry of the period, he preferred to cede his discovery to one of his brother ceramists, probably to Chicanaux, Director of the faience factory at Saint Cloud. Indeed, in Savary de Bruslon’s Dictionnaire uniyersel du commerce, which contains so much valuable information respecting the position of this industry in France at the beginning of the 18" century, we find the following : « Fifteen or twenty years ago attempts « were made in France for the first time to « imitate Chinese porcelain ; some first trials « at Rouen were fairly successful, and these « experiments have since been so happily « improved upon by the factories at Passy ' « and at Saint Cloud that it would almost « seem that the only qualification required « by French porcelain to make it equal to « the porcelain of China is that it should « have come a distance of 4000 to 6000 « leagues, and should pass for a foreign pro- « duction in the eyes of a nation accustomed « to value that only which it does not pos- « sess, and to despise every production of its . — Saint Cloud porcelain, decorated « own. » in blue camaieu. ‘i Z doe (In the Musée des Arts décoratifs.) This passage from Savary’s dictionary, and the striking analogy between the decora- tion of the porcelain dating from the commencement of the Saint Cloud manufactory (fig. 2) and that of the faiences of Rouen, confirm the hypothesis we have advanced, and it now appears to be beyond all doubt that the first European manufactory’ of porcelain was established at Saint Cloud, on lines probably suggested by Louis Poterat. This new porcelain, in colour of a soft, warm, milky white, very translucent, well executed, and carefully and tastefully decorated with foliated patterns (lambrequins) and floral designs in a style essentially French, or ornamented with coloured designs in imitation of old Chinese or Japanese ware (Gea), 1. Nothing is known of this manufactory at Passy referred to by Savary des Bruslons. 2. Voltaire, in his « Siécle de Louis XIV says: « Porcelain was first manufactured in Europe at Saint Cloud. » THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES 5 met with great success at a time when France was producing only faiences of a somewhat heavy type, and speedily became fashionable; all the writers of the period are loud in its praise, and Martin Lister, the celebrated English surgeon who accompanied the Duke of Portland to France, and who spent the whole of his six months’ stay in Paris in visiting its men of science, its libraries, its manufactories, and the collections of amateurs, expresses the opinion in the account which he published of his journey’ that it was « part of the felicity « of the age to equal, if not surpass, the « Chinese in their finest art. » Not for long did Saint Cloud mono- polize the manufacture of this new ware; either, as happened a few years later in the case of the Meissen (Dresden) porce- lain, dishonest workmen communicated the secret of its composition to a rival factory, or some clever ceramists sought and found in their turn that which others had disco- vered before them. However this may be, it is a fact that new manufactories soon arose in different parts of the country, at Lille in 1711, at Chantilly in 1725, and at Mennecy-Ville- Fig. 3. Pea | eee — Chantilly porcelain, roy about the year 1735. decorated in polychrome in imitation of ancient Japonese ornament. The manufactory at Lille, founded by i reg UR os Ae aor Barthélemy Dorez and his nephew Pierre Pélissier, does not occupy a high position in the history of this branch of ceramics; its chief endeavour was to imitate the productions of Saint Cloud, the designs of which it copied in blue camaieu*, but with less delicacy of execution, and without being able to impart to its wares that beautiful milky whiteness which constitutes one of the charms and characteristics of the por- celain of Saint Cloud. It was otherwise at Chantilly : the manufacture of porcelain, commenced there in 1725 by Cirou, rapidly increased in importance, owing chiefly to the protection afforded it by Louis-Henri, Prince of Condé, a great lover of Oriental porcelain, and owner of a remarkable collection whence the artists 1. Account of Paris, or A Journey to Paris in the year 1698. 2, Painting in monochrome. ih RO as SR a TS tS ————— 6 THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES employed in the new industry obtained excellent models, to which circum— stance, the ancient style of decoration in imitation of the Imari’ porcelain (fig. 4) which characterized the first stage of the manufacture of the Chan- tilly ware is due. The Chantilly porcelain aptly illustrates the phase of tentative research, destitute of any well defined principle, through which the manufacture of the ware was then passing, Its enamel, or glaze, of which tin forms an Fig. 4. — White Menncye porcelain. (In the collection of M. Pau Gaswaur.) ingredient, is opaque like that of faience, whilst in all other soft porcelain it is vitreous and transparent, but this beautiful enamel, only to be met with in the productions of the Chantilly manufactory, imparts a delicacy of tone and general harmony to the colours rarely found in ceramic ware of this date, and fully justifies the high prices that discriminating amateurs are ready to give for this kind of porcelain. As regards the Mennecy factory, established within the domain of its patron the Duke of Villeroy, although the porcelain wares made there, were, generally speaking, well executed in a delicate and transparent paste, and were tastefully and often yery skilfully decorated with flowers and landscapes in 1. Imari ware. This porcelain was, and is still manufactured in the province of Hizen, in Japan, and is generally called Imari porcelain owing to the circumstance that it is mostly exported from the seaport of Imari. (Bowes.) THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES 7 camaieu of various colours (fig. 5), it never produced anything very remarkable. It manufactured, in common with Saint Cloud and Chantilly, a quantity of porcelain in imitation of the Oriental white ware, devoting its energies more especially to the production of charming pieces decorated in relief with sprays of peach or apple blossom, and of those thousand and one little articles of daily use so much in fashion during the past century, but which, from their very fragility, are nowadays so rare, such as patch-boxes, sweetmeat and snuff boxes richly mounted in silver, or silver gilt, heads of walking sticks, knife handles, etc., executed with an elegance and artistic delicacy to which the tender and clear glaze of the soft porcelain added a further charm. But whilst the manufacture of porcelain was slowly progressing in France, an important event took place in Germany, where Bottger found means, with the kaolin discovered at Aue in 1709, to produce true porcelain, much more nearly approaching the Oriental ware than that manufactured in France. The factory established under his management in the Albrechisburg at Meissen with the assistance of the Elector of Saxony, developed rapidly, and the porcelain of Saxony (Dresden porcelain) soon became so fashionable in Europe that France, which up to that moment had occupied the first place in all industries relating to objects of virtu, was constrained to acknowledge the incontestable superiority of the Meissen ware. un 4 < Bil Il THE VINCENNES MANUFACTORY This position of relative inferiority was the subject of much solicitude at the Court of Louis XV, and it became evident that a serious effort must be made to remedy it as soon as possible. Consequently, when towards the year 1740, the two brothers Dubois, S ae se coming from the Chantilly factory, offered to betray to Orry de Fulvy, brother of the Comptroller general of Finance, the secret of the manufacture of porcelain, they found him quite disposed to lend a favourable ear to their overtures, probably owing to his conviction that he could obtain from Louis XV every encouragement and all the privileges required to start the factory he wished to establish, and which was destined to liberate France from the tribute which that country was at the time paying to Germany. These brothers Dubois had at first been employed in the manufactory of Saint Cloud, and subsequently in that of Chantilly, from which they were discharged for misconduct. Men’s minds were, however, at that time so engrossed in the manufacture of porcelain, and the delicate and elegant ware imported into France from Saxony was so much sought after, and enjoyed such popularity, that the proposal of the brothers was accepted with alacrity, and no inquiry was made as to their antecedents. Orry was, by his brother's support, enabled to place at the disposal of his two co-adjutors the long unused riding school of the Chateau of Vincennes, and lodgings were provided for Pw iil them in the superintendent's residence. Unfortunately for their noble patron, the brothers Dubois were obliged } to leave Vincennes after four years of fruitless attempts, and blind, costly experiments, the failure of which was due to their ignorance and incapacity THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES 9 as well as to their misconduct, and on which they squandered not only the money placed at their disposal by Orry de Fulvy, but also a sum of 10,000 livres granted by the King in aid of the new undertaking. The enterprise was consequently on the eve of complete abandonment when a man of the name of Grayant, an honest, intelligent and faithful workman who had been employed by the brothers Dubois and had atten- tively watched their experiments, suggested to M. de Fulvy that they two should continue the attempt, at all events for a time. Gravant soon amply justified the confidence placed in him, and from the year 1745 was able to produce specimens of porcelain ware of sufficient merit to assure the future of the establishment. It was then that Orry de Fulvy, still enjoying his brother’s support, established a company of which nearly all the members had an interest in the fermes', with a capital which, though fixed at the outset at ) P ) § 90,000 livres divided into 21 shares, was subsequently increased, and finally reached the sum of 250,000 livres. A decree of the Council of State, dated July 24" 1745, recognized the existence of the company and fixed at 20 years the duration of the excep- tional privileges granted to it. The new undertaking possessed, therefore, every element of success, but its first efforts were made under great difficulties, and king Louis XV had many a time to come to its assistance with considerable grants of money. Orry de Fulvy, by whom the manufactory was established and subsequently managed, does not, it must be admitted, appear to have been a very good administrator, nor was he apparently able to cause the work he had been called upon to supervise to follow a clearly defined course. The result was a period of random experiments, most prejudicial to the undertaking, and more especially characterized by the lack of originality so plainly visible in the earlier specimens of porcelain ware produced by this manufactory. Its chief aim was to compete with the German porcelain; consequently, without servilely copying the forms of its Meissen models, it imitated the raised ornamentation, which it executed, however, with more discriminating taste, and with more delicate decorative feeling. Like the Meissen works, it 1, The right of le him a certain sum. This right was termed ferme, and the persons who exercised it were called Fermiers ying certain taxes was farmed out by the King to financiers who, in return, guaranteed généraux, One of the first and chief proprietors was the fermier général Roussel, celebrated for his collection of paintings, bronzes and porcelain. 3 i al 10 THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES produced charming little vases decorated with floral ornaments, modelled and coloured au naturel, which from the first met with great success, and led to the manufacture of the floral decorations in relief for the ornamentation of brackets, chandeliers and girandoles, by which the manufactory first won its reputation. During the first few years, however, the sales were very small, — in 1750 they amounted only to 32,696 livres 4 sols, of which 26,323 livres were rea- lized by the sale of floral ornaments — and German porcelain, which sold at a lower price, continued to be imported into France in large quantities : in this respect the new undertaking fulfilled neither the expectations of its founders nor the hopes entertained in high places. From a financial point of view it was a disaster; all the money invested in it by its promoters was, together with the sums advanced by the King’, swallowed up in a gulf which widened year by year. It became evident that a new departure must be made, and that success could only be achieved by some great effort. By the advice of J.-B. de Machault, Count d’Arnouville, who had suc- ceeded Philibert Orry* as Comptroller general of Finance, and of Madame de Pompadour to whose enlightened intelligence both the arts and industries in France owed such efficient protection, Louis XV extended his patronage to he manufactory, renewed for another 20 years the privileges originally a granted to the company, and again advanced it considerable sums of money. The learned Hellot3, Director of the Académie des sciences, was entrusted with ct he superintendence of all that related to the manufacture of the porcelain, and was instructed to devote his attention generally to all matters connected with the paste, colours, and firing ; Duplessis, the Court Jeweller, a skilful and facile artist, was commissioned to design the forms, and to give his whole care to he perfect execution of the objects, the painting and gilding of which were placed under the supervision of Mathieu, a fairly skilful painter in enamel, who was however soon superseded by Bachelier, a man of originality, taste and c knowledge, whose good influence made itself especially felt in the industrial arts, and to whom both Vincennes and Sevres owed the most perfect speci- mens that ever left their kilns. 1. 40.000 livres in 17473; 30.000 livres in 1748; and 30.000 livres in 1749. >. Philibert Orry, Count of Vignori, born Jan. 22. 1689, held the office of Comptroller general from March 20. 1730. .1745. He died Nov. 9. 1747. 3, Jean Hellot, born in Paris Noy., 20. 1685; died Feb. 15. 1766. THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES iit The death of Orry de Fulvy, the principal proprietor, which took place in 1751, obliged the Company to refund to his heirs his share in the under- taking, and shortened the existence of the association. It was reconstituted on a different basis by a new Decree, issued on Aug. 19" 1753, by which the dura- tion of the new concession, granted under the name of Eloy Brichard, was limited to a period of 12 years. The King was induced by the progress which the manufactory had, since its establishment, made in every branch of its busi- ness, to take a share of one third in the undertaking, and to openly declare himself its patron; he also authorized it to assume the name of Manufacture Royale de la Porcelaine de France, and in future to mark with the royal cipher all the porcelain it pro- duced. The extensive development of the manufac- o tory soon necessitated larger premises than those available at Vincennes, and the Company were obliged to seek a new locality, a course which they were further induced to adopt by the wish to bring the factory nearer to the royal residence. Their choice fell upon Séyres' which, by its situation between Paris and Versailles, possessed the necessary qualifications, and the manufactory was established there with much ceremony in 1756, in a building erected on the site formerly occupied by the little chateau belonging to Lulli, one wing of which still remains standing. The old manufactory was speedily forgotten, and soon no other but that of Sevres was recognized, but the fact remains that it was Vincennes that from 1748 to 1756 produced those fine specimens of soft porcelain (pdte tendre) which established throughout Europe the fame of the Porcelaine de France. 1. Cf. the Arrest du Conseil d’Etat respecting present or future claims regarding the erection of building: tined for the Manufacture royale de la porcelaine de France in the village of Sévres, June 4. ery # = 94 leet Se Se III THE SEVRES MANUFACTORY The capital had by the statutes of the new Company been increased to 240,000 livres, divided into 80 shares of 3,000 livres each, one third of which, as already remarked, belonged to king Louis XV ; the secrets moreover, of the composition of the paste and colours, on which the enterprise depended, became, by the general consent of the proprietors, the exclusive property of the King, whose agents were alone acquainted with their nature. Boileau, a man of honesty and intelligence, was made Director under the supervision of a Commissioner specially appointed for the purpose; the staff of artists included Falconet, sculptor to the King, who undertook the supreme direction of the sculptors’ work, and Genest, an able artist who was appointed chief painter under Bachelier’s super- vision. Boucher and Vanloo furnished sketches of ornament and designs of figures and groups which were subsequently modelled by able sculptors and executed in biscuit’ porcelain. So great was the progress now made by the establishment, and so high a point of perfection had the manufacture attained, that France, which in 1745 had been obliged to obtain all its fancy porcelain from abroad, now found itself, after a lapse of less than 15 years, fully justified by the excellence of the pro- ductions of the royal manufactory, in not only preferring them to any other porcelain, but also in taking pride in supplying them to other nations by whom there were eagerly sought. The sales in the years 1756 and 1758 alone amounted : ” to 210,000 and 274,000 liyres respectively. 1. Biscuit is the term applied to unglazed porcelain. THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES 13 otwithstanding this prosperity a dispute arose in 1759 between the Royal Commissioner and the Company, which led to the dissolution of the latter. The proprietors, rightly or wrongly dissatisfied with the financial results of the enterprise, endeavoured to obtain further concessions from the King; but, on inquiry, their claims appeared so ill founded, that the Minister, in spite of the threats of the proprietors to withdraw altogether from the undertaking, refused to entertain them. On the contrary, the King, by the advice of his council, bought out the interest “of the other shareholders, and thus became sole proprietor of the manufactory to which an annual grant of 96,000 livres § 9) was made from the royal treasury, payable in twelve instalments. Boileau, by whom it had been so ably managed, retained the post of Director of the manufactory. The manufacture depended at that time entirely upon the production of the artificial porcelain known as soft porcelain (porcelaine tendre), unrivalled from an artistic point of view, but of inferior qualifications for domestic use, and quite incapable of comparison in this respect with the hard porcelains of China and Germany. The destruction of foreign competition being the chief aim of the manu- factory, an offer made by Busch and Stadelmeyer, two German workmen, to reveal the secret of the Meissen porcelain, was eagerly accepted; it was however soon found necessary to discharge them after several more or less satisfactory experiments, entailing the expenditure of no less a sum than 26,000 livres, as their process depended exclusively upon the employment of sub- stances not yet met with in France, and which it would have been necessary to obtain at great cost from abroad. The same cause led to the rejection, a few years later, of the offers of a manufacturer named Hannong, who had inherited the secret of a process employed by his father in his porcelain factories at Strasburg and Frankenthal. Several men of science, however, and among them Macquer who, on the retirement of Hellot, had been appointed chemist to the manufactory, were convinced that kaolin was to be found in France as well as in Germany where numerous beds had been discovered, and called the attention of their brother scientists in the country to the subject. Their expectations were fulfilled, for, by a letter, dated April 26" 1760, Odolant Desnos, a doctor of Alencon, informed Macquer that the precious substance had been found in the quarries of Hertré where it was already known to the workmen under the name of Chenar ; this kaolin unfortunately proved to be of inferior quality, and 4. eal 2 SS 14 . THE’ SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES he trials made with it resulted only in a grey porcelain too coarse to compete 5 co with the German ware’. Macquer was not discouraged, and caused the search to be continued, but it was not until the year 1768 that he was able to confirm the existence of the magnificent beds of kaolin at Saint-Yrieix, near Limoges, W hich were accidentally discovered by the wife of a surgeon named Darnet, the first spe- cimens being sent to Macquer by the Archbishop of Bordeaux. A fragment of this kaolin is preserved in the museum at Sevres, together with a small figure of an infant Bacchus which Macquer caused to be executed from the sample received. The manufactory had now at last attained the object of its highest ambi- tion, but Boileau its intelligent Director, who had managed it with so much ability, was not destined to benefit by this discovery; he died in 1773, leaving in the treasury 300,000 livres in cash and a like value in porcelain, moneys owing, and stores of every kind, such as wood for firing, colours, and gold, irrespective of other materials. All this was dissipated in less than 6 years by the thoughtless expenditure, but more especially by the dishonest manage- ment of his successor, Parent, who was subsequently prosecuted and imprisoned. In the place of Parent the King, by a decree dated Dec. 20", 1778, appointed Régnier, who had until then occupied the post of Assistant Director, and whose capacity and uprightness were universally appreciated. Under his able guidance the first objects of any importance in hard porcelain were produced, more particularly those splendid vases of which the Louvre possesses so remarkable an example. From this period dates also the first application of enamels in relief on soft porcelain, and the execution of copies of paintings by old masters on porcelain slabs or plaques. At the commencement of the year 1789 Stvres was without a rival; its well earned reputation was established throughout Europe, and kings disputed with one another the possession of its productions. But a critical period for the establishment was at hand : the privileges to which it owed its development were withdrawn, and it had, besides, to struggle with the competition of the national industry which, having overcome the obstacles hitherto impeding its progress, now began to entice away the manufactory’s artisans. The position r. The trials, after Macquer abandoned them, were recommenced in 1764, but with no better result, by the Comte de Brancas-Laurag , who stubbornly sought to discover the secret of hard porcelain. amp ; y be found in museums and collections; they consist chiefly of moulded medallions bearing on the reverse B. I Examples of his productions m .., the initials of the aristocratic ceramist, occasionally accompanied by a date. THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES 15 was rendered still more precarious by the embarrassments of the royal treasury, precluding all idea of help from that quarter’, and by the utter failure of the establishment's agents to collect the sums of money due to it on all sides. The difficult position in which the manufactory was at that time placed is graphi- cally described in the despairing letters which J. de Montucla, an able mathe- matician who acted as head managing clerk to the establishment, and to whom all matters connected with the manufacture of the porcelain had been specially confided, wrote on the subject to the Comte d’Angivilliers, Directeur des Bati- ments royaux (Superintendent of the royal palaces). « The more I reflect on the state of affairs », he writes in a letter dated Sept’ 8", 1789, « the more « convinced I am of the necessity of reducing the production by at least one « third. This would result in a proportionate saving in the materials used. All « luxuries are now, moreover, out of the question for some years to come. « Paris is gradually becoming exhausted. The wealthier classes have left to « cultivate cabbages on their estates. The House of Artois is crippled for many « a day. There will be great reforms in the affairs of the King, of the Queen, « and of Monsieur ?, etc., etc. The nobles of the Court are ruined..... How are « we under these circumstances, to meet, in January next, the expenses for « two months, amounting in each case to about 16,000 livres? Between ourselves, « I greatly fear that we shall not hold out till then, or that if we do, it will only be « a respite of a few months at most... It seems to me that unless some remedy « is found of which I am at present ignorant, we are in imminent danger..... « In a word, I do not know where to turn. No one pays us; there are hardly « any sales now; all the creditors (or at least a large number of them) are « pressing me for payment; I shall soon be obliged to leave, or to hide « myself..... » Matters went from bad to worse, so much so, that in 1790 the question was raised of selling the manufactory to pay its debts, and thus to lighten the burdens of the crown. But the Directeur des Batiments royaux having drawn up a report in which he pointed out that such a sale would be disadvantageous, and that, besides, under the difficult circumstances in which the manufactory was placed, it would not realise its true value, king Louis XVI decided to retain it, and himself added the following lines at the foot of the report? « I retain the Sevres manufactory at my own expense; but I desire the 1, The grants to the manufactory during the year 1789 amounted to less than 59.000 livres. 2. The title Be en to the eldest brother of the King. Archives nationales, ancien régime, 02061. ee IS ein Ty 16 THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES « expenditure to be so lessened and regulated that it shall not exceed 100,000 « écus ; | further desire that the monthly wages of the workmen, after the end « of the current year, shall not exceed 12,000 livres, and that they shall, if pos- « sible, be still further reduced. The liabilities must be met by the proceeds of « the sales. I do not wish any debts to be incurred : an easy matter to avoid, as « | myself shall supply the necessary funds every month out of the sums set apart « for the expenses of the royal palaces. » « I desire that a scheme of economical administration be drawn up by the « end of the present year. An accurate account must be kept of everything sup- « plied to me, as also of the proceeds of the sales, which will be made over to « me after all debts have been paid, in order that I may be fully able to judge « whether it is advisable to retain the manufactory or to dispose of it to greater « advantage than is at present possible. » « Saint Cloud. August 7", 1790. » The National Assembly in its turn decided that the Sevres manufactory, together with the Gobelins tapestry works, was not to be included in, nor dis- posed of with the other so-called national property and, by a decree dated May 26", 1791, added the two establishments to the property left at the disposal of the King, and chargeable to his civil list. After the fall of the monarchy, the Convention, basing its decision on a report drawn up by the Minister Roland, decreed that the manufactory, « being « one of the glories of France » should be preserved as a national establishment, and should be attached to the Département de ’Intérieur under the section devoted to « Arts and Agriculture », Nevertheless, for several years the void in the factory’s treasury was such that it was unable to make even the smallest payment in cash to the artists and workmen whose services it had been able to retain, and was obliged, in the hope of better days, to apply to the Govern- ment for supplies in kind, consisting of grain and provisions from the national stores, and to ask for permission, for the purpose of obtaining a little money, to dispose of the remaining stock of porcelain in a lottery. A decree, dated 13 Pluyidse, an III (February 1“ 1795), entrusted the management of the factory, which, during the worst years of the Revolution, had been, so to say, usurped by a workman named Chanou, to three directors. These were Hettlinger, who since 1785 had occupied the position of Inspector; the elder Salmon, general storekeeper, and Francois Meyer, the chemist. Meyer resigned a few wecks after his appointment, and was not replaced, but Hettlinger and Salmon retained their posts until the 25 floréal, an VIII (May 14", 1800), THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES 7 when they were succeeded by the able chemist Brongniart. The latter proved a firm and enlightened manager, and instituted numerous reforms rendered necessary by the precarious position in which he found the establishment he had been called upon to direct, himself setting a rare example of self-denial by pro- posing to reduce his own salary from 6,000 francs to 3,000 francs per annum. These measures enabled the manufactory to support itself solely by the proceeds of the sales until the year 1804 when it became the property of the Crown, and was carried on in the name of the Emperor who supplied its wants by annual subsidies. This arrangement was maintained without interruption, in spite of attempts made at different times (in 1830 and 1848), to suppress the establishment. But from the day on which Brongniart undertook the management of the manufactory, soft porcelain, the ware with which this treatise exclusively deals, completely disappeared, its place being taken by the kaolin, or hard porcelain. Here we will therefore close this short historical summary, and proceed to examine the successive phases passed through, during the period under review, by the manufacture and decoration of the .soft porcelain which up to the present day has never been equalled by any other production of ceramic art. THE MANUFACTURE AND DECORATION OF SOFT PORCELAIN CRORGE TALNIE, TEND IRE) As previously remarked, the paste of the soft porcelain, at first called Porcelaine francaise, was composed of different substances which varied in each manufactory. The Stvres paste consisted of sand of Fontainebleau, nitre, sea-salt, soda of Alicant, alum, and gypsum, or scrapings of alabaster. All these ingredients were thoroughly mixed, placed in an oven in a layer of about 12 inches in depth, and baked for at least 50 hours, by which process they were conyerted into frit, or vitrified paste of a pure white colour. This frit, after being well crushed, was mixed with Argenteuil marl, in the proportion of 9 pounds of frit to 3 of marl, thus forming a paste which was worked up for three weeks in a mill; it was then allowed to dry in troughs, and afterwards crushed under cylinders; then sifted, soaked in water, and worked into lumps which were made plastic by the aid of soft soap and boiling water. Considerable care was required in carrying out these various operations. Equal caution was necessary in preparing the glaze, which was composed of Fontainebleau sand, litharge, soda, silex, or Bougival gun-flint, and potash. These substances were crushed and mixed, and were then fused together in crucibles, emerging in the form of crystals which, after being ground to powder, were mixed with water, forming a bath of enamel. The objects were first baked in biscuit, and then glazed by pouring the enamel over them (arrosage), not by dipping ; white vinegar was added to the glaze immediately previous to its application in order to cause the enamel to adhere more firmly to the biscuit. The above details seem necessary in order to convey an accurate idea of the nature of soft porcelain. It is, as may be gathered from this explanation, THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES 19 a vitrified substance of a consistency so fine and close that its unglazed surface is soft and, so to speak, « velvety » to the touch, a quality lacking in the hard variety. The chief superiority of soft porcelain, however, consists in the lustre which it imparts to the colours. They seem in fact to combine completely with the enamel, into which they appear to sink and become absorbed. This is one of the principal characteristics of soft porcelain and is sufficient in itself, failing other indications, to distinguish it from other kinds of ware. If a piece of soft porcelain is held obliquely to the light, so that the latter falls partly on a plain, and partly on a coloured surface, no difference is observeable in the glazing, he one being as bright as the other. If, on the other hand, a piece of hard porcelain is examined in the same way, a difference in the glaze of the two sur- aces may at once be perceived. However well the colours may have been glazed, they are less brilliant than the plain enamel, and no longer seem to be homogeneous with it. The very qualities of soft porcelain, however, precluded its employment for utensils in domestic use : it was too easily scratched, and, owing to the ack of plasticity in the paste, did not lend itself to the manufacture of large objects; consequently, notwithstanding its incontestably superior artistic merit, it was thrown aside when the discovery of kaolin in France rendered the produc— ion of hard porcelain possible. It will have been seen that, from the very commencement, the chief aim of the Vincennes manufactory had been to compete with the porcelain of Ger- many. Without servilely copying the shapes and modelling of the Meissen por- celain, its artists had nevertheless imitated the ornament in relief of that ware, but with more delicacy of taste, and more refined decorative skill, This was the period of the production of those charming little vases sur terrasses*, of those elegant potpourris?, the bases and bodies of which were decorated with flowers and foliage delicately modelled in relief after nature, or, as it was then termed, a linstar du naturel. This kind of ware met with great success, and led to the production of those flowers in relief to which the manufactory first owed its reputation, and the sales of which at one time realized, relatively speaking, large sums}. 1, Vases with ornamental bases. 2. Potpourris were vases in which dried rose leaves, etc. were kept; in England the word is applied exclu- sively to the scented mixture itself. Beebe 6.700 livres 12 sols, whe ales of flowers in 1749 — the in which this new ware was first introduced — amounted to n properly so called only reached the figure of 7 as those of pore 9 livres 19 sols. In 1750 the total sales amounted to only 32.696 livres, of which the flowers realized 26.3 20 THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES Painted ornamentation, excepting that of the raised decoration which really required but a single process of colouring, did not as yet exist. There were at that time no painters on porcelain. At Saint Cloud, at Lille, and at Chantilly, the only manufactories then extant, the porcelain was decorated solely by means of a plats, or tinting with flat shades in blue camaieu, or with designs pen- cilled (aw trait) in polychrome, in imitation of ancient Japanese ornament. This could hardly be termed painting. The new establishment, availing itself of its exclusive privilege of gilding porcelain manufactured in France, began to paint on the bodies of vases and centres of plates detached flowers or small bouquets in gold thickly applied and burnished aw clow*. But it was soon found neces- sary to advance a step further and, with a view to the establishment of a decorating studio, to apply to the then numerous fan painters and enamellers for assistance. Both classes of artists for some time retained, and applied to the porcelain, the processes to which they had been accustomed, and which differed widely from each other, thus rendering it easy to determine in the earlier pro- ductions of the Vincennes manufactory, by whom the painting was executed. The fan painters, who usually selected figure subjects, accustomed only to the use of gouache* colours, at first produced effects which were somewhat heavy and pasty in appearance; they too frequently obtained their lights by the excessive use of pure white colour, occasionally slightly tinted. Having but little knowledge of their new palette of colours, and ignorant of the effect pro- duced on them by the firing process, they employed their ordinary mixtures without the least appreciation of the fact that certain colours are destroyed by others which, on the other hand, become intensified by firing, and that again, certain oxides fade to such a degree that they lose at least half their intensity in the kiln. This is the cause of the curious colouring observed in the foliated orna- ment of a large number of pieces dating from this period : greens which are too brown, or more often, too yellow; brick coloured flesh tints, etc., etc. The enamellers, on the other hand, who were nearly all painters of flowers, birds and other ornaments, accustomed to the delicate decoration of jewels or objects of small size with paintings on enamel already fired, and therefore similar in nature and colour to the glaze of porcelain, applied their colours by fine delicate strokes of the brush : their flowers are sketched in colours rather than painted, so that itis almost possible to count the number of the strokes. 1, This burnishing au clou (with the nail) constitutes, as will be seen later on, one of the distinguishing characteristics of the soft porcelain decorated at Sévres. 2, Water colour mixed with gum or other medium to form a paste. THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES 21 Nevertheless, but for a certain harshness, this style was well suited to the elegant and delicate porcelain ware of the new manufactory, and many of the objects so decorated may be classed among the most charming works of French ceramic art. This experimental period was of short duration, and when the manufac- tory, under the official patronage of Louis XV, became of sufficient importance for the men of learning and artists previously mentioned to be called upon to assume its direction, and to undertake the decoration of its wares, they found a studio of painters already experienced in the ornamentation of porcelain, well acquainted with the resources of their art, and able to execute with unrivalled skill the designs they were required to reproduce. It was during the brilliant period that followed, and more particularly from the year 1748 to the year 1760, that the manufactory produced those exceptionally fine works by which its reputation was established. Never since then has the famous blew de Sévres attained such splendour, purity and depth, nor its gilding such solidity and brilliancy, contrasted with the delicate milky white paste. It was at this period that Hellot discovered that beautiful rose colour so soft and yet so brilliant in tone, which admitted of being thickly laid on to serve as a ground. The secret of its composition appears, however, to have died with him, or with the subordinate who prepared it under his supervision, for, not- withstanding the admiration it excited and the great demand that arose for it, not a single piece of this colour can be found bearing a date later than that of 1761. This rose colour has for a long time been known, especially in England, by the appellation of « rose Du Barry », a name probably given it by some fanciful amateur, or due to the lively imagination of a dealer, for most of the objects of this colour date from a period when Madame Du Barry was still in her infancy *. Hellot was also the discoverer of the blew turquoise, a tender and softly harmonious colour when laid upon a smooth surface, but which, on the least inequality of surface, gives rise to refractions and vibrations of light, and to an unexpected transparency, which impart to it the brilliancy of precious stones. It was Vincennes which, as already observed, produced the finest specimens of soft porcelain to which the porcelaine de France, as it was then called, owed its fame. But from the moment that Louis XV took the manufactory under his 1. Of the 35 specimens with rose coloured grounds shown at the exhibition at the South Kensington Museum in 1862, and which w athered from the most celebrated-collections in England, 18 were anterior and ro bore the date of 17 : s 4 sh SA ay ev Mtns = SYS Set Se yar ecco 22 THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES own control, the court officials, who were entrusted with its supreme administra- tion, and the Directors, who received large commissions on the sales, did their utmost, the former through zeal, the latter from interested motives, to render the undertaking prosperous in a commercial sense rather than from an exclusively The scientific research which had led to the discovery of artistic point of view. described was abandoned, and but little the beautiful ground colourings above use was made of the process of applying on porcelain translucent enamels in raised designs. This process contained the elements of an entirely novel style of decoration on which, however, no one appears to have bestowed a thought, and the ornamentation of the porcelain continued on the old lines, varied only by the addition of strings or garlands of pearls in thick enamel laid upon thin plates or spangles (paillons) of gold, accompanied by medallions framed in thin plates of gold in repouss¢é, and chased *, and attached to the glaze by means of colourless solvents. The process itself was nothing less than jewellers work, so fine and deli- cate was it, and clearly showed by the beauty of the ware so ornamented, and by the effect thus obtained at no great cost of imagination, how easily the accomplished artists of Sevres might have found the road to much that was both new and hitherto undreamed of in their art, if only their efforts had been guided in this direction. Sevres attempted the production of new forms even more rarely than Vincennes, producing only at long intervals show vases and other works of special importance modelled after the old designs, which, being far too expen- sive for the purse of the general public, were usually reserved as presents to royal personages or to their ambassadors. The chief aim of the Sevres manufactory was the production of articles in daily use and in constant demand, such as table services, cabarets’, téte-d-téle, or single sets, flower stands (jardiniéres) orna- mental flower-pots, small sets of vases, pois pourris, etc. All this porcelain ware, ornamented, with but few exceptions, with great skill, is executed in the distinctive and elegant, though somewhat affected style which characterizes the artistic and industrial manufactures of that period, and owes its irresistible charm to that wonderful « soft paste », so restful and pleasing to the eye, which will ever remain one of the most glorious discoveries of French industrial art. It 1. These little gold plaques, in every instance beautifully executed in repoussé, or chased, were the work of a skilful graver named Le Guay. The enamelling was done by Cotteau, of Geneva, and by an artist named arp: Parpette employed in the ms anufactory, to whom the idea of applying enamels on porcelain first occurred. 2. Small tea or coffee services on porcelain trays. THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES 23 was at Sevres, however, that the fine biscuit porcelain was made, which contri- buted not a little to the renown acquired by the manufactory : among other specimens of this ware may be mentioned the Surtout des Chasses (a table centre-piece ornamented with hunting scenes) after Oudry, La Baigneuse (The Bather) and Les Amours by Falconet, and numberless groups, busts, and statuettes, the models of which were supplied by Caffiéri, Pajou, La Rue, Boizot, Clodion, and many others. i Mg Saw Sob, ME al Lh Ae we ¥ ce ete yc ee Ef MARKS The decree of April 19" 1753, which renewed the concession of the Vin- cennes manufactory and authorized it to assume the title of Manufacture Royale de la Porcelaine de France, compelled the establishment to mark all its ware with the two L’s interlaced which up to that date had only been attached to comparatively few of its productions. Every mark was moreover to be accom- panied by a letter to fix the date of manufacture, that is to say the letter A for 1753, B for 1754, and so on; after the letter Z (1776) was reached the lettering was doubled. The following is a chronological table of the letters employed, together with their corresponding dates : From 1793 to 1800, the period at which the manufacture of soft porce- 1. A comet was, it is said, added to the letter R to commemorate the comet of 17693; we ourselves have never seen any porcelain bearing this mark. THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES 25 lain was abandoned, the royal monogram was replaced by the following marks, indiscriminately employed, but always with the addition of the word « Sevres »: KR RE RE SCVICS The marks were almost invariably accompanied by the monograms, signs or emblems adopted by the painters or decorators. 53D f Jevre BB ws 2000 ch Lan” 1784. — Vincent, gilder. 1795-96. — CorNalLue, Cuapry, flower painter. flower painter. 1775. — Tamtanprer, 1776. — Baupom, gilder. flower painter. Cuotsy, flower painter. The following, in alphabetical order, are the marks or monograms adopted by painters on soft porcelain (from 1753 to 1800); a large number of them have been copied from specimens of undoubted authenticity, and the remainder have been taken from documents preserved in the manufactory at Sévres. MARKS AND MONOGRAMS OF THE PAINTERS, DECORATORS AND GILDERS OF THE SEVRES MANUFACTORY FROM 1753 To 1800 We ALONCLE AUBERT sen" Si Birds, Animals, Accessories. Flowers. NEN ANTEAUME eee BAILLY nie, vax ae Landscapes, Animals. Flowers. Va ASSELIN = BARDET Fiba Miniature portraits. — ae Died in fructidor an XII (Aug.-Sept. 1804). N : Rd enw 4 Ae = aa a eS = he 26 THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES BARRAT Garlands, Bouquets. BUTEUX (Tuéopvore) Detached bouquets. (Licensed in the year VIII, (1800).) BARRE Detached bouquets. BUTEUX (Guitiaume) Children, Rural subjects. BAUDOIN Gilding ; Friezes, Ornament. (Licensed in the year VIII, (1800).) CAPELLE Painter, and Superintendent of the decorating kilns. Friezes. icensed in the year VIII, (1800), aged 81. BECQUET Flowers. CARDIN Detached bouquets. BERTRAND Detached bouquets. CARRIER Flowers and cupids (in camaicw). BIENFAIT CASTEL Gilding. Landscapes, Huntings scenes, Birds. BINET CATON Detached bouquets. Chief painter; Children, Portraits. (Died the 16 messidor, in the year VIII) (4! July 1800), BINET (M™) CATRICE € Flowers. Flowers, Detached bouquets. ee: BOUCHER | CHABRY Noe Si Flowers, Garlands. Cin Miniatures. BOUCHET Landscapes, Figures, Ornament. CHANOU (M™), née Jurm-Durosry Flowers. (Licensed in the year VIII, (1800).) BOUILLIAT Flowers, Landscapes. CHAPUIS sen" Flowers, Birds. BOULANGER Detached bouquets. CHAPUIS sun* Detached bouquets. BOULANGER fits Children, Rural subjects. CHAUVEAU pire Gilder. (Licensed in the year VIII, (1800).) BULIDON Detached bouquets, CHAUVEAU rits Gilding; Bouquets, Accessories. BUNEL (M"™), née Manox-Bureux Flowers. CHEVALIER Flowers, Bouquets. BUTEUX pére Flowers, Accessories. CHOISY Flowers, Arabesques. (Licensed in the year VIII, (1800),) THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES 2 CHULOT Flowe etc. in the year VIII, (1800); was appointed | FUMEZ Detached bouquets. ¢ é ep pari the 16 prairial (34 June | (Licensed in the year VIII, (1800).) COMMELIN - ee es co IN GAUTHIER 7H Bouquets, Garlands. (Licensed in the year VIII, (1800).) Landscapes with animals, CORNAILLE Flow (Licensed in the year VIII, (1800).) s, Bouquets. Figures, Genre subjects. Gilding; Chinese subjects. (Employed on piece work.— Register of 1789.) Rural subjects. Appointed chief painter, vendémiaire an XIII (Sept.-Oct. 1804). COUTURIER GENIN Gilding. Flowers, Garlands. DIEU GERARD A DODIN Figures, Portraits. se an XI (Feb, 10, 1803), worked for 4g years in the DRAND Gilding, Chinese subjects. GERARD (M™*), née Vautrin Flowers. GIRARD Gilding, Chinese ornament, arabesques. DUBOIS Flowers, Garlands. GOMERY Flowers, Birds. DUSOLLE Detached bouquets. GREMONT Flowers, Garlands. DUTENDA GRISON 1) | Flowers, Garlands. al aan (Licensed in the year VIII, (1800).) Gilding. EVANS pire AGRAORG Birds on pieces with ornamental bases. d in the year VIII, (1800).) (Lice Flowers, Garlands. FALOT Arabesques, Birds. HERICOURT Flowers, Garlands. FONTAINE Accessories, Miniatures. (Licensed in the year VIII, (1800).) HILKEN Figures, Rural subjects. FONTELLIAU ye HOURY LY Gilding. Flowers. FOURE HUNY Flowers, Bouquets. Flowers, Bouquets. Ni FRITSCH sures, Children. JOYAU Flowers, Bouquets. io aa see ES a Ss. i ? a 1s 28 THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES JUBIN Gilding. MICHEL Detached bouquets. LA ROCHE (pr) Flowers; Supplementary decoration. (Licensed in the year VIII, (1800).) MOIRON Detached bouquets. LEANDRE Rural subjects. MONGENOT Flowers, Bouquets. LE BEL Flowers, Figures. MORIN Seascapes, Military subjects, LE BEL sun™ Decoration and Gilding, Flowers. MUTEL Detached bouquets. LECOT Chinese ornament. NICQUET Detached flowers. LEDOUX Landscapes, Birds. NOEL (Guirraume) Flowers, Ornament. (Licensed in the year VIII, (1800), died p/u- vidse an XILT (Jan,-Feb. 1805.) LE GUAY Gilding. NOUAILHIER (M"), née Sopuiz Durosey.) Flowers. LEGUAY Children, Chinese ornament. PAJOU Figures. LEVE SEN Flowers, Birds, Accessories. PARPETTE Flowers, Bouquets. (Pensioned in 1806 after 42 years of service.) LEVE (Féuix) Flowers, Chinese ornament. PARPETTE (M'™ L.) (Licensed in the year VIII, (1800).) Flowers. Q Q MAQUERET (M"™), née Bourtiiar At PND AUG cb ee) Flowers. P: : Macey MASSY PFEIFFER Flowers, Garlands. Bouquets. (Licensed in the year VIII, (1800).) MERAULT, sent Friezes, Ornament. PHILIPPINE sen* Children, War scenes. MERAULT sunt Flowers, Garlands. PIERRE sen‘ Flowers, Bouquets. (Licensed in the year VIII, (1800),) x MICAUD Flowers, Accessories. (Licensed in the year VIIT, (1800).) PIERRE sun” Bouquets, Garlands. THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES 29 EAEOEORG! Sa TAILLANDIER Te Portraits, Historical and allegorical Me subjects. Bouquets, Garlands. PITHOU sunr “ Bouquets, Flowers, Ornament. Ore TANDART Zz (Was employed on piece work. — Register e Blower groups, Garlands, of 1793.) § , POUILLOT TARDY Detached bouquets. XEN Detached bouquets. PREVOST THEODORE Jal 12 ecoc Gilding. Gilding. RAUX | THEVENET pire Detached bouquets. Flowers, Cartels, Landscapes. Figures. Ornament, Friezes. XK ROCHER € y THEVENET rizs ROSSET VANDE V ) Flowers, Gilding. Landscapes. (Licensed in the year VIII, (1800),) GZ. ROUSSEL Vi VAVASSEUR Detached bouquets. Arabesques. > af SOMOS AVDISIR VIEILLARD 7 Flowers and Arabesques, Gilding. Ka@A 2 (Died May esaves) Supplementary decoration, Ornament. ae SIOUX sent VINCENT ! pire goa Ba Flowers, Garlands. 2000 Gilding. © SIOUX sunt XROWET? Flowers, Garlands. Flowers, Arabesques. mY y SISSON is YVERNEL ", Ye ‘ Flowers, Garlands, Detached bouquets. Y Landscapes, Birds. 1. 2,000 = vingt cents (twenty hundred), pronounced in French in the same TABARY manner as Vincent, the name of the painter, whose son, licensed in the year VIII (1800), continued to use the same mark, 1 Birds. 2. This must be intended for Drouet, whose name is entered in the register 0f 17935 the name of Xrowet does not appear in the old registers. tf eet SS CS IMITATIONS AND COUNTERFEITS OF SOFT PORCELAIN The relative scarcity of the old Sevres porcelain and the high prices it commanded gave rise, as might have been expected, to a special industry which consisted in the manufacture of « old Sevres ». The quantity of spurious « soft paste of Sevres » sold in Paris, and more especially in London, and annually exported, for the most part to America, is quite inconceivable : had the celebrated manufactory existed for three or four centuries, instead of for only about one hundred and fifty years, it could never have produced all the porcelain attributed to it by unscrupulous dealers. Among the counterfeits of old Sevres ware there is one, produced by the decoration of real white Sevres porcelain, which can with difficulty be distin- guished from the genuine article. Brongniart, being obliged, at the outset of his management, to obtain money at any cost to meet the expenses of the manu- factory, and to pay something on account to the starving workmen whose wages were fourteen months in arrear, sold, at low prices, the entire remaining stock of soft porcelain, the manufacture of which, since the discovery of kaolin at Saint-Yrieix, had been much neglected, and was now definitely abandoned. There was still a considerable store of plain undecorated porcelain which, purchased at the time for next to nothing by the Chambrelans' of Paris, and by English dealers, still forms the chief support of the trade in counterfeit productions, and, when skilfully ornamented, as was the case during the first years of the Restoration, requires much experience to detect. C1, hambrelans were contractors who undertook, for large dealers, to decorate, or cause to be decorated en chambre, that is to say, in their own studios, the porcelain manufactured in the provinces, more especially at Limoges, and sent to Paris unornamented (en blanc) THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES 31 A few of the old painters on soft porcelain who had once been employed by the manufactory and had been pensioned or allowed to work under a licence from the establishment at the time of its reconstitution before Bron- ghiart’s' appointment, were at this time still living, and willingly placed their skill at the disposal of the dealers, without troubling themselves much as to the use these latter made of it. A good deal of porcelain so decorated was for a long time considered by even the most competent judges to be genuine Sevres ware. Among other productions of this kind may be mentioned a service in the collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor, and another presented to Louis XVIII as having belonged to Louis XV, which was subse= quently, on its spurious character becoming known, transferred to the Sevres museum. This porcelain may however be recognized, notwithstanding the excellence of its decoration, by several characteristics which we will proceed to briefly point out. The first, an infallible test, which nevertheless requires a practised eye and great experience in soft porcelain, is the presence of chrome green in the colouring of the bouquets and landscapes. The oxide of chrome, discovered only in 1804, and first employed in the Sevres manufactory, soon came into general use on account of its durability and richness of colour, and everywhere replaced the oxide of copper which until then had been exclusively employed in the production of the various shades of green. This modification of the process was lost sight of when the decoration of the plain soft porcelain sold by Brongniart was commenced, and an infallible means of detecting the fraud was thereby provided. Chrome green is warmer in tone, more yellow, than the copper green, and never displays, as does the latter when at all thickly laid on, that characteristic metallic lustre so remarkable on soft porcelain of acertain kind, more especially on the Chinese porcelain to which the name of famille verte has been given, and which is so well known to connoisseurs. The difference is very striking when a piece of spurious porcelain is compared side by side with a specimen of the genuine article. Soft porcelain not decorated at Sevres may further be distinguished by the peculiar character of the gilding. The substantial gilding of the old, true porcelain always has a dull appearance; the gold was merely sprinkled on after the removal of the object from the enamelling kiln a practice which exists to this day — and the design was then produced by burnishing au clou 1. Cf. La manufacture de Sévres en Van VII, by Edouard Garnier. Champion, Paris, 1888. nm aT SOs Ae th ta a Bo Mens Neg SR ee ) é k J il THE SOFT PORCELAIN OF SEVRES that is to say, with a nail firmly fixed in a wooden handle. At the commence- ment of the present century the nail was replaced by the agate burnisher, which altered the character of the gilding and produced a notable difference in the designs polished in this manner. The lines on the old Sevres porcelain are firm, sharp, well defined, and sometimes of a considerable depth, owing to the pressure required in polishing aw clow. The lines on the spurious ware, on the other hand, as also those on modern porcelain, are less distinct, and less, so to say, engraved, which is due to the circumstance that the agate produces a polish more easily by the aid of friction and comparatively slight pressure. Lastly, the mark constitutes one more means of detection, which, though not possible in every case may nevertheless in many instances be employed, and frequently furnishes indisputable proof of the spurious character of certain kinds of porcelain. The marks of Vincennes and of Sévres have only recently become known by the publication of works dealing with the subject. At the time when the imitation of Sévres porcelain by the decoration of plain ware from the kilns of the manufactory was at its height these marks were unknown, the forgers contenting themselves in most instances with merely copying a mark which they had seen on some piece of genuine porcelain, without troubling them- selves to ascertain its true meaning; affixing, for instance, the monogram of a figure painter to a piece decorated exclusively with floral ornament, or the mark of a skilful gilder to a piece of porcelain ornamented with a single gold band. Other kinds of porcelain are daily sold under the name of old Sévres, but their decoration is usually so coarse and clumsy as to deccive only the ignorant or credulous. It is therefore unnecessary to refer to it here; and we will content ourselves with pointing out to true lovers of ceramics those counter- feits which are sufficiently well executed to deceive even them, unless fore- warned. 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