Japanese Style Tray Attributed to L.-C. Sevin & F. Barbedienne, France, c. 1860

Pair of 18th century soft-paste porcelain dishes finely decorated in the 19th century with medallions representing Japanese theatre characters dressed in traditional costumes, beautiful gold-embossed ornament on a polychrome background. These dishes are to be linked with the production of the Sèvres Manufacture. The Manufacture de Sèvres, factory of soft-paste porcelain, was founded in 1738 at Vincennes by bankers and financiers hoping to discover the secret of making hard-paste porcelain, used in Meissen at the time. In 1753, King of France Louis XV became the main shareholder of the factory, transferring it to Sèvres, closer to Versailles and the castle of Bellevue, owned by la Marquise de Pompadour, very interested by Sèvres’ research and supportive of the works. In 1759, the King became the sole shareholder of the Manufacture, making it the property of the French Crown. From this day on, the Sèvres artworks were marked with the royal seal, two intertwined “L’s”, as well as a letter indicating the year of creation. The period between 1756 and 1779 represents the most prosperous years for the factory. To support Sèvres, Louis XV made sumptuous orders offered as diplomatic presents. The main artists at the time, such as painters Boucher and Bachelier or sculptors Falconet and Boizot, worked for the factory. Research on the making of hard-paste porcelain kept going and succeeded after 1769. From this year, Sèvres successfully produced both soft-paste and hard-paste porcelain. It is also during this period that the most beautiful and singular colors were invented: bleu lapis in 1752, bleu celeste in 1753, green in 1756, famous pink in 1757 and royal blue in 1763. The most significant pieces are ornamented with scenes inspired by engravings from famous painters (Boucher) and ornamentalists. They are also decorated with garlands, bunches of flowers, trophies, gildings… The fine quality of Sèvres’ production covers a large range of statuettes (Falconet’s threatening Love), full services (Rambouillet’s service is presented to Marie-Antoinette in 1788), as well as utilitarian or ornamental items. The role played by haberdashers in the production’s development is essential. They originated trends around Sèvres-designed products, such as Daguerre who decorated his most precious furniture with porcelain...

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