Antique Large Ovoid Ormolu Casket Sevres Porcelain Navy-Blue, 19th Century

View Similar Items

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

Antique Cobalt Blue Sevres Porcelain Ormolu Table Lamp, 19th Century

19th Century Sevres Style Casket

Antique Bleu Royale Sèvres Porcelain Ormolu Table Lamp, 19th Century

Sevres French Fine Porcelain Gilded Ormolu Comport 19th Century

Antique Italian Capodimonte Porcelain Table Casket, 19th Century

19th Century Blue Porcelain Cup in Sevres Style

Pair French 19th C. Ormolu & Sevres Porcelain Celeste Blue Jeweled Covered Vases

19th Century Sevres Style Porcelain Pedestal

Large 19th Century Sevres Vase

Large Rotating Porcelain And Bronze Vase, Sèvres, 19th Century

Antique Porcelain & Ormolu Zell Hammersbach Vase 19th Century

Want more images or videos?

Request additional images or videos from the seller

1 of 16

Antique Large Ovoid Ormolu Casket Sevres Porcelain Navy-Blue, 19th Century

About the Item

This is an exquisite French antique ormolu-mounted Sèvres Porcelain casket, circa 1880 in date. This wonderful large casket is ovoid in shape and has a stunning hinged lid with a pineapple finial featuring two beautiful hand painted romantic scenes of courting couples enjoying their time together in a naturalistic setting with lovely pink flowers, trees and rocks, against a delightful Royal Blue ground with gilt highlights. The body of the casket has a further hand painted cartouche featuring a charming nostalgic landscape against a matching Royal blue ground with gilt highlights. The inside of the casket has the interlaced L's mark for Sevres, France and the Chateau De Longpré stamp. This item is of superb quality, is incredibly rare, and will instantly enhance any special room. Condition: In really excellent original condition, please see photos for confirmation. Dimensions in cm: Height 27 x width 15.5 x depth 15.5 Dimensions in inches: Height 10.6 x width 6.1 x depth 6.1 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 Sèvres 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 Sèvres Porcelain "biscuit" figurines were also a great success. However, soft-paste Sèvres Porcelain was more easily broken. Therefore, early pieces of Sèvres 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 Sèvres 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 Sevres 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. Carved Cameo Shell Although occasionally used in Roman cameos, the earliest prevalent use of shell for cameo carving was during the Renaissance, in the 15th and 16th centuries. Before that time, cameos were carved from hardstone. The Renaissance cameos are typically white on a grayish background and were carved from the shell of a mussel or cowry, the latter a tropical mollusk. In the mid 18th century, explorations revealed new shell varieties. Helmet shells from the West Indies, and queen conch shells from the Bahamas and West Indies, arrived in Europe. This sparked a big increase in the number of cameos that were carved from shells. Conch shells carve very well, but their colour fades over time. After 1850 demand for cameos grew, as they became popular souvenirs of the Grand Tour among the middle class. Cameo subjects Classically the designs carved onto cameo stones were either scenes of Greek or Roman mythology or portraits of rulers or important dignitaries. In history, agate portrait cameos were often gifts from royalty to their subjects. These antique cameos, some more than 2000 years old, are either displayed in museums or are in private collections. 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-coloured 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. No true ormolu was produced in France after circa 1830 because legislation had outlawed the use of mercury. Therefore, other techniques were used instead but nothing surpasses the original mercury-firing ormolu method for sheer beauty and richness of colour. Electroplating is the most common modern technique. Ormolu techniques are essentially the same as those used on silver, to produce silver-gilt (also known as vermeil).

Dimensions:
Height: 10.63 in (27 cm)Width: 6.11 in (15.5 cm)Depth: 6.11 in (15.5 cm)
Materials and Techniques:
Ormolu,Porcelain,Hand-Painted
Place of Origin:
France
Period:
1880-1889
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1880
Condition:
Seller Location:
London, GB
Reference Number:
Seller: 096681stDibs: LU950615122181

Antique Sèvres Porcelain Charger of Louis XVI, 19th Century

$2,284

Antique Mid-19th Century French Napoleon III Decorative Boxes

Materials

Ormolu

19th Century Sevres Style Casket

$4,697

Sevres French Fine Porcelain Gilded Ormolu Comport 19th Century

Located in Nottingham, GB

In good condition From a private collection Free international shipping Sevres French Fine Porcelain Gilded Ormolu Comport 19th Century

Category

Antique 19th Century Porcelain

Materials

Ormolu

Sevres French Fine Porcelain Gilded Ormolu Comport 19th Century

$4,110

Free Shipping

19th Century Blue Porcelain Cup in Sevres Style

By Samson & Cie

Located in Paris, FR

Oval blue porcelain cup with polychromatic decoration composed of a large cartouche with gilt-decorated borders depicting a man and a young woman in a landscape, sitting on the grass...

Category

Antique 19th Century French Napoleon III Porcelain

Materials

Porcelain

19th Century Blue Porcelain Cup in Sevres Style

$1,163

Pair French 19th C. Ormolu & Sevres Porcelain Celeste Blue Jeweled Covered Vases

By Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres

Located in New York, NY

A Marvelous and Quite Large Pair of French 19th Century Ormolu Mounted Sevres Porcelain Jeweled Celeste Blue Ground Covered Vases with Four Main Panels. Each vase of baluster form w...

Category

Antique 1870s French Louis XVI Porcelain

Materials

Bronze

Pair French 19th C. Ormolu & Sevres Porcelain Celeste Blue Jeweled Covered Vases

$44,950 / set

19th Century Sevres Style Porcelain Pedestal

Located in Southall, GB

This outstanding pedestal beautifully exhibits the style and grace of the famed Sèvres porcelain manufactory. This exceptional piece features a lustrous light blue base, which provid...

Category

Antique Late 19th Century French Empire Porcelain

Materials

Porcelain

19th Century Sevres Style Porcelain Pedestal

$4,845

Large 19th Century Sevres Vase

By Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres

Located in Brighton, Sussex

A beautiful French 'Sèvres' porcelain two handle vase, depicting a classical scene of a young maiden playing music with cherubs around her. Set in a dark blue back ground and gilded...

Category