Madame de Pompadour (née Poisson) tea set

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Cindy Sherman
Madame de Pompadour (née Poisson) tea set
1990

About the Item

Madame de Pompadour (née Poisson) tea set, 1990 21-piece porcelain Tea Service: 1 teapot 1 sugar bowl 1 creamer 6 cups 6 saucers 6 dessert plates dimensions vary Edition of 75 in blue Included are the original fitted boxes. Cindy Sherman created this Limoges porcelain 21-piece tea service in a limited edition after the original design commissioned by the MADAME DE POMPADOUR (née Poisson) in 1756 at the Manufacture Royale de Sevres. The self-portrait image of the artist as Madame de Pompadour has been transferred onto porcelain through a complex process which requires up to 16 photo-silkscreens. Each piece is silk-screened and painted at Ancienne Manufacture Royale, then individually signed and numbered. "After a design originally commissioned by Madame de Pompadour (née Poisson), mistress to King Louis XV. Sherman’s photographic self-portrait fills the central cartouche, showing her in the guise of Pompadour in 18th-century costume with wig, white-powdered complexion, prosthetic breasts, and jewels "The idea for the Sherman project originated in 1988, the same year Sherman began her history portraits. Artes Magnus approached Sherman to create porcelain designs for Limoges. Her ceramic series, consisting of a tea service, dinner service and soup tureen, derives from old extant 18th-century models. According to Artes Magnus, Sherman based her soup tureen on an 18th-century mold for a tureen designed for Pompadour herself in 1756. Sherman also imitated the painting and decoration of the 18th-century product, using platinum rather than gold for the painted ornament." "Pompadour’s history and her connection to Sèvres further reveal the complex references contained within this object. As a social upstart and a woman operating in the masculine world of the royal court, Pompadour needed to refashion her image and identity to fit the role of maîtress en titre (royal mistress) and Louis XV’s closest advisor. As part of her Pygmalion-esque campaign, she carefully managed the production and display of her painted image. The many portraits executed by her favorite painter through the 1750s, François Boucher, portray her as a charming, petite, eternally youthful patron of the arts and literature. Pompadour also sought to cement her relationship with King Louis XV, particularly after their sexual partnership ended, by jointly reviving a failing, privately-owned porcelain factory in Vincennes, east of Paris. As the firm’s most constant client, Pompadour ordered dinner services and the porcelain flowers that were a Vincennes specialty. In 1756, she and the King relocated the factory to newly-built premises at Sèvres, on land adjacent to Pompadour’s chateau, Bellevue. Three years later, the King bought out the private shareholders and made the firm his royal property." "The themes of female identity, of women artificially refashioning themselves to appeal to—or to refute—the male idea of women as consumers, and the history of the Royal Porcelain Manufactory at Sèvres, are all taken on by Sherman in her Madame de Pompadour Limoges series. Sherman’s self-portrait addresses the role women assume as fetishized objects for male consumption. By masquerading as Madame de Pompadour, the ultimate consumer and patron of the most elegant and exorbitant Sèvres ceramic wares, she also critiques women as consumers and supporters of elitist fashion."

Creator:
Cindy Sherman (1954, American)
Creation Year:
1990
Dimensions:
Height: 10 in (25.4 cm)Width: 20 in (50.8 cm)Depth: 15 in (38.1 cm)
Medium:
Porcelain
Movement & Style:
Rococo
Period:
Late 20th Century
Condition:
Condition is excellent. No chips, cracks, or wear. The outsides of the original boxes have some minor scuffs.
Gallery Location:
Los Angeles, CA
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU121624689082

Shop All Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman

One of the most influential American contemporary photographers, Cindy Sherman has centered her work on transformation. In self-portraits that evoke the tropes of cinema and advertising, she has transformed herself to experiment with ideas of identity, particularly related to the expectations for women. Sherman is one of the most significant artists of the Pictures Generation, a group of artists who have utilized appropriation and montage to reveal the constructed nature of images, including Richard Prince, Barbara Kruger, David Salle and Robert Longo.

Sherman was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, in 1954. Growing up in Long Beach, she was immersed in the television and film culture of the era — the Cold War, nuclear bombs, capitalism and the increasing onslaught of images selling an ever-growing array of commercial products. In 1972, she attended the State University of New York in Buffalo and majored in painting, but she became enthralled with photography and switched her major, graduating in 1976.

Shortly after graduation, she began to work on one of her best-known series, the “Untitled Film Stills.” For the 70 black-and-white photographs that mimic publicity stills used to advertise movies, she was both the photographer and the subject. The work debuted in 1980 to critical acclaim and international recognition.

During the 1980s, Sherman began to shoot with color film and use prosthetics and stage makeup. She explored the grotesque and malevolent by creating photographs portraying eating disorders, insanity and death. Her work further focused on how society maintains and perpetuates stereotypical roles for women.

Her manipulation of identity through images has influenced many photographers, including Ryan Trecartin, Lisa Yuskavage and Tracey Ullman. In 2000, Sherman’s work was exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. In 2012, the Museum of Modern Art in New York held a retrospective of her work. The National Portrait Gallery in London held a retrospective in 2019.

Major museums around the world have collected her work, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Tate Modern in London and the Art Institute of Chicago. Her photographs frequently fetch record prices at auction.

On 1stdibs, find Cindy Sherman’s photography, prints and multiples, mixed media and more.