Skip to main content

Antique French Ormolu and Sèvres Porcelain Jewelry Casket, 19th Century

Antique French Ormolu and Sèvres Porcelain Jewelry Casket, 19th Century

View Similar Items

French 19th Century 'Sevres' Porcelain Mounted Casket

French 19th Century 'Sevres' Porcelain Mounted Casket

19th Century Sevres Style Porcelain Dresser Box / Jewelry Casket

19th Century Sevres Style Porcelain Dresser Box / Jewelry Casket

Late 19th Century French Sevres Style Porcelain Casket

Late 19th Century French Sevres Style Porcelain Casket

Antique French Sevres Cobalt Blue Porcelain Jewellery Casket 19th Century

Antique French Sevres Cobalt Blue Porcelain Jewellery Casket 19th Century

19th Century Sevres Casket

19th Century Sevres Casket

Antique 19th Century Malachite and Ormolu Casket

Antique 19th Century Malachite and Ormolu Casket

Antique French Marquetry and Ormolu Stationary Casket . 19th Century

Antique French Marquetry and Ormolu Stationary Casket . 19th Century

Antique Sévres Bleu Celeste Porcelain Jewelry Casket with Gold Ormolu Details

Antique Sévres Bleu Celeste Porcelain Jewelry Casket with Gold Ormolu Details

19th Century Sevres Style Casket

19th Century Sevres Style Casket

Bronze dore and Sevres porcelain jewelry casket

Bronze dore and Sevres porcelain jewelry casket

19th Century French onyx + ormolu jewellery casket.

19th Century French onyx + ormolu jewellery casket.

French 19th century Louis XVI st. Ormolu and Sévres Porcelain box.

French 19th century Louis XVI st. Ormolu and Sévres Porcelain box.

Video Loading

Want more images or videos?

Request additional images or videos from the seller

1 of 17

Antique French Ormolu and Sèvres Porcelain Jewelry Casket, 19th Century

About the Item

This is a fabulous antique French Ormolu jewelry casket with inset Sèvres Porcelain panels, circa 1880 in date. This magnificent casket is rectangular in shape with a decorative inset Sèvres Porcelain panel on top and on each side. These panels are decorated "en féte champetre" (meaning garden party), after Watteau, within gilt and turquoise jewelled borders with rope twist detailing. The casket is raised on a plinth base and the interior lined in the original red velvet. Condition: In excellent condition. As an antique items, the casket show signs of use commensurate with age, these minor condition issues are mentioned for accuracy and, as seen in the accompanying photographs, the casket displays beautifully. Dimensions in cm: Height 13 x width 28 x depth 19 Dimensions in inches: Height 5.1 x width 11.0 x depth 7.5 Sèvres Porcelain traces its roots in France to early craftsmen who had small manufacturing operations in such places as Lille, Rouen. St. Cloud, and most notably Chantilly. It is from Chantilly that a cadre of workers migrated to the Chateau de Vincennes near Paris to form a larger porcelain manufactory in 1738. French King Louis XV, perhaps inspired by his rumoured relationship with mistress Madame de Pompadour, took an intense interest in porcelain and moved the operation in 1756 to even larger quarters in the Paris suburb of Sevres. Sevres was also conveniently near the home of Madame de Pompadour and the King's own Palace at Versailles. From the outset the king's clear aim was to produce Sevres Porcelain that surpassed the established Saxony works of Meissen and Dresden. Though the French lacked an ample supply of kaolin, a required ingredient for hard-paste porcelain (pate dure), their soft-paste porcelain (pate tendre) was fired at a lower temperature and was thus compatible with a wider variety of colours and glazes that in many cases were also richer and more vivid. Unglazed white Sevres Porcelain "biscuit" figurines were also a great success. However, soft-paste Sevres Porcelain was more easily broken. Therefore, early pieces of Sevres Porcelain that remain intact have become rare indeed. The Sèvres Porcelain manufactory always seemed to be in dire financial straits despite the incredibly fine works it produced. In fact, the king's insistence that only the finest items be created may have contributed to the difficulties. Only a limited number of European nobility could afford the extravagant prices demanded for such works. King Louis XV and eventually his heir, the ill-fated Louis XVI, were obliged to invest heavily in the enterprise. Ultimately, the Sevres Porcelain Factory produced items under the name of "Royal" and thus the well-known Sevres mark was born. King Louis XV even mandated laws that severely restricted other porcelain production in France so as to retain a near monopoly for his Sèvres Porcelain. The king even willingly became chief salesman for the finest of his products, hosting an annual New Year's Day showing for French nobility in his private quarters at Versailles. He eagerly circulated among potential buyers, pitching the merits of ownership and policing the occasional light-fingered guest. Sèvres Porcelain may have indeed given the makers of Meissen and Dresden a run for their money by the end of the 18th century but for the French Revolution. By 1800, the Sèvres Porcelain Works were practically out of business due to the economic devastation of the new French Republic. About the time when Napoleon Bonaparte named himself Emperor of France (1804), a new director was named for the Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory. Alexandre Brongniart, highly educated in many fields, resurrected Sevres Porcelain. Soft-paste porcelain was eliminated altogether thanks to the earlier discovery of kaolin near Limoges. For four decades until his death, Brongniart presided over monumental progress for Sèvres Porcelain, catering not only to Napoleon himself, but at last to include the more financially profitable mid-priced market in the emerging middle class. Ormolu - (from French 'or moulu', signifying ground or pounded gold) is an 18th century English term for applying finely ground, high-carat gold in a mercury amalgam to an object of bronze. The mercury is driven off in a kiln leaving behind a gold-colored veneer known as 'gilt bronze'. The manufacture of true ormolu employs a process known as mercury-gilding or fire-gilding, in which a solution of nitrate of mercury is applied to a piece of copper, brass, or bronze, followed by the application of an amalgam of gold and mercury. The item was then exposed to extreme heat until the mercury burned off and the gold remained, adhered to the metal object. After circa 1830 because legislation had outlawed the use of mercury other techniques were used instead. Electroplating is the most common modern technique. Ormolu techniques are essentially the same as those used on silver, to produce silver-gilt.

Dimensions:
Height: 5.12 in (13 cm)Width: 11.03 in (28 cm)Depth: 7.49 in (19 cm)
Materials and Techniques:
Ormolu,Porcelain
Place of Origin:
France
Period:
1880-1889
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1880
Condition:
Seller Location:
London, GB
Reference Number:
Seller: A14251stDibs: LU950620860572

More From This Seller

Antique French Sevres Porcelain and Ormolu Jewelry Casket, 19th Century

Located in London, GB

This is a fabulous antique French Ormolu and Sevres Porcelain jewelry casket, circa 1870 in date. This magnificent casket is rectangular in shape, with the top as well as each sid...

Category

Antique 1870s French Porcelain

Materials

Ormolu

Antique French Sevres Porcelain and Ormolu Jewelry Casket, 19th Century

Antique French Sevres Porcelain and Ormolu Jewelry Casket, 19th Century

$2,701

Antique French Sevres Cobalt Blue Porcelain Jewellery Casket 19th Century

Located in London, GB

This is a fabulous antique French Sevres ormolu mounted cobalt blue soft paste porcelain jewellery casket, Circa 1870 in date. The shaped hinged ormolu mounted cover is superbly de...

Category

Antique 1870s Decorative Boxes

Materials

Ormolu

Antique French Sevres Cobalt Blue Porcelain Jewellery Casket 19th Century

Antique French Sevres Cobalt Blue Porcelain Jewellery Casket 19th Century

$1,350

Antique French Marquetry and Ormolu Stationary Casket . 19th Century

Located in London, GB

This is a wonderful antique French Gonçalo Alves marquetry and ormolu mounted casket, circa 1860 in date. The casket of bureau form has a lift up top and is inlaid with a marquetry ...

Category

Antique 1860s Decorative Boxes

Materials

Ormolu

Antique French Marquetry and Ormolu Stationary Casket . 19th Century

Antique French Marquetry and Ormolu Stationary Casket . 19th Century

$1,731

Antique Palais Royal French Casket Necessaire Vanity Chest 19th Century

Located in London, GB

This is a fine and well fitted ebonised Gonçalo Alves Palais Royal travel necessaire / vanity chest, by Maison Smal L. Dujat - Palais Royal 7 (Paris), circa 1850 in date. This sup...

Category

Antique 1850s French Decorative Boxes

Materials

Silver Plate

Antique Palais Royal French Casket Necessaire Vanity Chest 19th Century

Antique Palais Royal French Casket Necessaire Vanity Chest 19th Century

$2,888

Antique Gilt Bronze Jewellery Casket & Miniature 19th Century

Located in London, GB

This is a beautiful antique gilded ormolu serpentine shaped jewellery casket, Circa 1870 in date. The top, front, sides and back are beautifully cast and tooled in gilt bronze. The ...

Category

Antique 1870s Jewelry Boxes

Materials

Bronze

Antique Gilt Bronze Jewellery Casket & Miniature 19th Century

Antique Gilt Bronze Jewellery Casket & Miniature 19th Century

$865

Antique Figured Coromandel Brass Box / Casket 19th Century

Located in London, GB

This is a magnificent antique brass bound coromandel Victorian Gothic Revival casket by Parkins and Gotto, 24 & 25 Oxford Street, London, circa 1860...

Category

Antique 1860s English Victorian Decorative Boxes

Materials

Brass

Antique Figured Coromandel Brass Box / Casket 19th Century

Antique Figured Coromandel Brass Box / Casket 19th Century

$1,454

You May Also Like

French 19th Century 'Sevres' Porcelain Mounted Casket

By Tahan Paris

Located in Brighton, Sussex

A fine quality late 19th century gilded ormolu and Sevres style porcelain mounted casket, the hinged lid opening to a silk lined interior (needing repair) and raised on ormolu melon ...

Category

Antique Late 19th Century French Louis XVI Decorative Boxes

Materials

Porcelain, Walnut

French 19th Century 'Sevres' Porcelain Mounted Casket

French 19th Century 'Sevres' Porcelain Mounted Casket

$1,662

19th Century Sevres Style Porcelain Dresser Box / Jewelry Casket

By Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres

Located in New York, NY

Large antique (late 19th century) Sevres style porcelain jewelry casket or bonbon box in the French Louis XV / XVI style. 12 1/4 by 9 by 4 3/4 inches. With fine gilding and hand-painted designs including top depicting lovers seated in a pastoral setting. Signed Lauque. Underside with an old Brazilian consumption tax stamp, reading "CONSUMO BRASIL", dating from the second quarter of the twentieth century that carries a value of 2000 Reis (Real, the Brazilian currency...

Category

Early 20th Century French Louis XV Jewelry Boxes

Materials

Bronze

19th Century Sevres Style Porcelain Dresser Box / Jewelry Casket

19th Century Sevres Style Porcelain Dresser Box / Jewelry Casket

$2,600

Late 19th Century French Sevres Style Porcelain Casket

By Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres

Located in Brighton, Sussex

A very decorative late 19th century French Sevres style porcelain, hand painted casket. Having a Burgundy colour ground, with an inset pa...

Category

Antique Late 19th Century French Louis XVI Decorative Boxes

Materials

Porcelain

Late 19th Century French Sevres Style Porcelain Casket

Late 19th Century French Sevres Style Porcelain Casket

$2,493

19th Century Sevres Casket

By Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres

Located in London, GB

A rare antique French gilt bronze and silver Sevres porcelain casket finely painted with neoclassical figures on two round and two rectangular ...

Category

Antique Late 19th Century French Decorative Boxes

Materials

Ceramic

19th Century Sevres Casket

19th Century Sevres Casket

$4,400

Antique 19th Century Malachite and Ormolu Casket

Located in London, GB

Antique 19th century malachite and ormolu casket Russian, Mid-19th Century Height 9cm, width 21cm, depth 15cm This magnificent malachite casket celebra...

Category

Antique Mid-19th Century Russian Decorative Boxes

Materials

Malachite, Ormolu

Antique 19th Century Malachite and Ormolu Casket

Antique 19th Century Malachite and Ormolu Casket

$13,162

Antique Sévres Bleu Celeste Porcelain Jewelry Casket with Gold Ormolu Details

By Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres

Located in Toronto, ON

A breathtaking example of French artistry, this Antique Sèvres Bleu Céleste Porcelain Jewelry Casket epitomizes opulence and refinement. Crafted in...

Category

Early 20th Century French Jewelry Boxes

Materials

Ormolu

Antique Sévres Bleu Celeste Porcelain Jewelry Casket with Gold Ormolu Details

Antique Sévres Bleu Celeste Porcelain Jewelry Casket with Gold Ormolu Details

$3,200

Recently Viewed